


Sticks And Stones: Break

by half_sleeping



Series: Sticks and Stones [3]
Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra, Avatar: The Last Airbender, Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball
Genre: Epic crossovers, Gen, No seriously all of them
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-26
Updated: 2014-09-13
Packaged: 2017-11-22 11:13:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 36,215
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/609208
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/half_sleeping/pseuds/half_sleeping
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Book 2 of the Avatar!AU of Kuroko no Basuke: Republic City living isn't anything like easy for anyone.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Republic City whirred to life a few hours before the sun rose, the low hum of the street lights dimming for the collective roar of engines, the people beginning to file ant-like out of their houses. Kagami and Kise and Aomine had only dropped off to sleep three hours ago, but Aomine was woken when Kagami woke when Kuroko woke when Momoi woke, at the _ding_ of the glorified egg timer that had served Kagami as his alarm clock since he’d picked it up from an air nomad peddler for a song. Kise had grown up in the dormitories of the Air Temples, though, and could sleep through everything but the morning bells to mediation, which woke him a bare ten minutes later instead, tolling over the water from Air Temple island, reaching through the windows to call Kise home. He rolled off the platform where he slept with Kuroko and Momoi, grabbed his glider and leapt out the window without opening his eyes, stepping on anyone or even checking his hair. Aomine stayed on his platform on the other side of the attic a little while longer, pretending he could still sleep. Momoi went to their tiny curtained-off washing area first, and the splashing of the water on her body kept Aomine from actually sleeping. Kuroko corralled Nigou before he could upset Kagami unearthing from the icebox half a basket of eggs to crack into the rice boiling on the other side of the tiny gas-powered stove. They had it with soy sauce. This was an improvement from last week, when they’d had porridge with soy sauce, end of.

Aomine was tired. Last night- no, this morning, they’d dragged themselves up after training with Nigou slipping out of Aomine’s arms like a sack of potatoes to find Kuroko and Momoi already sleeping the sleep of the deeply exhausted, and this had been after a full day of work. They had their match tomorrow, though. They had to be prepared.

Kagami was the first one to leave, racing to the morning shift at the power plant. Union rules stated that lightning-benders needed to take at least three-hour breaks between six-hour shifts, which left Kagami struggling to fit in two shifts a day _and_ pro-bending practice, running him the most ragged out of any of them except maybe Momoi. Kuroko slurped up his bowl and left too, taking Nigou with him. Momoi took a little longer, spreading her wet hair out over her shoulders, poking Dai-chan with the end of a stool to clean up the water and refreeze the icebox, closing the window after Ki-chan.

Aomine dragged himself out of his sheets and ate his breakfast, wishing he’d made enough yesterday for meat for them to actually eat, instead of the bones from last night’s meal making up the broth for today’s. Satsuki sat on the tattered, ancient sofa that had come with the attic and ate, and Aomine looked at the deep dark shadows forming under her eyes. He hadn’t seen those since before Tetsu had come, when he’d first started going out with the boats for the catch. But Republic City was boiling over with benders who wanted those jobs and the fishermen here weren’t likely to be as sympathetic to two orphans struggling to live on handouts as the villagers back home had been. The Kiyoshi Islanders hadn’t stinted on what they had to give, but all the same their charity had left them clothed in castoffs and eating the same thing a week in a row. Aomine had thought they were past those times.

He sat next to her with the whole rest of the pot and said, “We’ll win, tomorrow.”

Satsuki ate neatly and quickly and said, “Of course you will.” Then she added, “If you don’t forget the rules or the zones and you don’t get knocked out early by someone who knows what they’re doing better than you do.” She ruminated for a bit. “Or if Kichan doesn’t accidentally airbend and get you all thrown out.”

Aomine snorted and said, “We’ll kill him if he does,” which wasn’t _can we really keep this up_. Aida had been clear and upfront about it, and Aomine had gotten the skinny from the other pro-benders who turned up to Hanamiya’s gym. The winnings didn’t start until they actually were competing in the tournament, and they had at least another two weeks until then, another fortnight of living hand-to-mouth and running themselves ragged trying to make something of themselves in this merciless city. Aomine didn’t doubt they could win. But winning might not change anything for them.

Kise had not needed to be clear. If being the Avatar called him away, he would go. That wasn’t even a question. They couldn’t afford to think like that, though.

“Dai-chan?” said Satsuki, reaching to take the empty pot from him. “I’ll wash it before I leave, come on. You need to go to the docks, right?”

“Nah,” said Aomine, getting up and grabbing her bowl from her, already bubbling the soapy water over the bowls left in one of the buckets. “I’ve got this.” He _did_.

.0.

Aomine hit the Red Monsoons again once it became clear he wasn’t going to make any more than a fistful of yuans hanging out at the docks past the dawn rush. Mako had a few jobs he kept for guys he liked, his inner circle, the ones who were just as hard-eyed as he was. Aomine knew he was as a good a bender as any of them, better, but he didn’t see any point in toadying up to Mako for scraps, which didn’t work for most of them anyway. He wanted something that would make him some real money. He was sick of the thin sleeping pads they had in the attic. He wanted them to have fucking cutlery that matched and wasn’t broken, was that too much to ask? Kagami was a _prince_. He could have walked away from their life any time he chose, but he wasn’t doing it. He wasn’t walking away from _them_.

Aomine fought, savagely. Not anywhere near cutting loose, but they were less strict at this place than that ref Hyuuga was, and the benders here took their hits without whining, coming right back up at him with sharp and vicious tricks, close enough to kill, but not nearly good enough to kill _him_. He wouldn’t make these mistakes at the matches.

Looking over the railing that lined the second floor and onto the sparring areas, Hanamiya watched Kazuya fly through the air, trailing blood that frosted into interesting patterns in the air as he went. His eyes noted the slight hollowing of Aomine’s cheeks, the drawn-out stretched look he was getting, the way he moved around the water like no one Hanamiya had ever seen. Hanamiya kicked Kentaro, who snorted awake and almost fell out of his chair.

Hanamiya nodded to the floor. “You’re hitting Narook’s later?” he said.

“It’s that time of the week,” Kentaro said, rubbing his elbow. “Boss,” he added.

“See if the new guy is interested,” said Hanamiya. “Take Sakurai, too. It’s about time he took a good look at how we operate.”

Kentaro rolled his eyes down to Aomine demolishing someone else altogether; his breath beginning to frost in the air. “How the hell’s he doing this from down there,” said Kentaro, cross-eyed. Hanamiya flexed his hands on the rail and water began to flow down all the walls back to the buckets. Aomine looked up, startled. Most of the chumps working in this place barely noticed. Ha. Hanamiya had known he was onto something. Of all the gyms in Republic City for this guy to walk into.

“Because he’s working hard with the power of wonderful belief and spirit,” said Hanamiya, locking eyes with Aomine Daiki. “Why do you fucking think? Because he’s good. Take him with you, wave a bit of change in his face.” And then they’d see if fucking Imayoshi wanted to talk like he had this city in the palm of his hand. Then they’d see if he really could.

.0.

Kuroko had extremely nice seniors in the newspaper office. Izuki had taken Hyuuga’s gruff, “Look after him” to heart. Nigou had been whole-heartedly adopted by the staff, and he at least ate well on their tidbits. Aida-san also took charge of him during the hours when Kuroko and Momoi went to their night jobs and the other three practiced, and if he came back with his belly rounded out with food and with his fur soft and clean, they could only be grateful that Aida Riko was a softer touch than she looked. Kuroko had been given a thankless proofreading job, but the money was reasonable, he had his own desk, and there was always tea and biscuits. Kiyoshi also cleaned here, or at least came in sometime around lunch and then spent the evening hanging around looking wise as he bothered the rest of them at their work.

Kuroko learned a lot about Republic City from reading the things that passed his desk. A fluff piece about the completion of the Avatar’s training told him that Kise’s time had been well-spent since they had met him. The sheaf of articles on crime in Republic City gave him pause. Fleet movement reports told him that soldiers and sailors would shortly be returning to Republic City, just in time to fill the city to overflowing and in time for the conference being called in Republic City for the benefit of the young Avatar. The Fleet Commander was highly anticipated to be in attendance.

Mitobe interrupted Kuroko’s work with a quiet cup of tea placed near his hand, and Kuroko murmured his thanks. Kise-kun’s firebending master was coming to Republic City. Kise had alternated between terror and adoration in all his stories about Commander Akashi, who commanded the second fleet.

Koganei had followed Mitobe over with a new tin of biscuits, and he munched companionably over Kuroko while he and Mitobe chose their biscuits with solemn gravity.

“Your team is playing tomorrow, right?” said Koganei. “What’s their name? I’m a Panda-Bear fan myself, but they already qualified, so I can root for your team tomorrow no problem.”

“They’re the Lion-Dogs,” said Kuroko. “You follow the matches?”

Mitobe nodded.

“We usually do,” said Koganei. “Even if we can’t get tickets, you know? Izuki’s broadcasting now, and his numbers are really going up. Last year they’d only just started with a radio slot, but now that a few more big teams are into it, the championships have been getting bigger and bigger. Hyuuga and Riko really put their backs into it.”

Mitobe frowned.

“The gangs used to run the pro-bending in Republic City,” translated Koganei. “Riko’s being straight with everyone and running it like a business, but she wouldn’t be able to do it without some serious money behind her. The triads don’t like it when someone muscles it on their territory. They watch her closely so they can strike if she slips up.”

“Is it very serious?” said Kuroko.

“If there was any wrongdoing, we would find and expose it!” said Koganei, thumping his chest with his empty mug. “And Riko’s tough. She gets things done, even when she doesn’t like how she has to do it.”

Nigou chose this moment to brush past a napping Kiyoshi’s legs, and he let out a yell as he was startled awake, which naturally roused the rest of the office because Kiyoshi rattled the earth in his surprise, upsetting anyone and anything that could have been upset. In the chaos of trying to locate Nigou through his barks in a sea of newsprint and paper, Kuroko forgot to ask Koganei what exactly it was that Aida Riko did not like to do.

.0.

Heads turned as the nice young man in the United Fleet’s smart uniform laboured at the bicycle attached to a wagon. His passenger was another young man who could have been mistaken for the more eccentric class of tourist, the ones who found the noise of motorcars inauthentic or annoying and preferred to see the city by rickshaw. He was dressed in the manner of a wealthy Water Tribesman even in the heat of Republic City. In the wagon with him was a statue of Avatar Kiyoshi. 

Takao raised his head and said, “What do you mean, you want to go to Narook’s? That’s on the other side of the city. If you want to go there then _you_ take a crack at moving yourself around, how about that?”

“We could go to Kuang’s,” said Midorima, sighing in the manner of one making a huge sacrifice.

“Are you joking?’ said Takao. “I couldn’t afford a place like that, Shin-chan." He mulled it over. "Unless you’re paying, obviously.”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” said Midorima. “Then we’ll just go to Narook’s.”

Takao slumped on his bike. By now he wasn't sure why he bothered to turn up to the embassy in full uniform, except that he still had his rank and no one could take _that_ away from him, damn it. “I should never have introduced you to that place,” he said.

“If you don’t hurry,” said Midorima. “Then obviously we won’t get there in time for lunch.” He settled down and adjusted the statue of Avatar Kiyoshi the length of his forearm sitting in the corner of the wagon. Auntie Wu had predicted some bad luck today for him, but that had been the largest lucky item Midorima had been able to find on short notice. In the whole city.

It would just have to do.


	2. Chapter 2

“Hey, Kiyoshi Island!” someone called. Aomine raised his head from punching ice, and turned.

Aomine knew Mako’s right-hand man by sight, though he didn’t really want to. Seto used too much hair gel and had shifty eyes. He didn’t know the name of the boy shivering next to Seto, but Aomine knew his lightning-quick water whip, sharp enough to have left a scar in the wall of solid brick.

“Aomine, right?” said Seto. “Here’s Ryou, say hi, Ryou.”

“H-h-he-hello!” stammered Ryou.

Aomine jerked his head at them.

“We’re going out on a job,” said Seto. “Need someone who looks like he’ll bite someone’s head off for looking at him, and we think you fit the bill. Interested?”

“Rough work?” said Aomine. 

“Nah, picking up the weekly loan payment from an establishment of note,” said Seto. “Mako- yeah, you know Mako, runs this place- they owe Mako money and they’re on a payment plan. We get to be the ones picking up the interest every week, and we do their takeout on the way.” He paused.

Aomine shrugged his shoulders. “What’s the take?”

“Fifty yuan,” said Kentaro. “Fifty, for twenty minutes’ work. We’ll do a slow walk there and back, miss the crush. We’ll even spot you lunch on the way. Whaddaya say, Aomine?”

Aomine’s stomach thankfully did not choose this minute to gurgle. He felt the pull of it, though, the lure of not spending half his day’s pull on the cheapest lunch he could weedle, and of fifty yuan to bring back. That could go into their pool, and Satsuki or Tetsu would find a use for it.

“Why me?” he said. “If it’s such a good offer and I’m the new guy?”

Seto sighed. “Do you hate money,” he said. “Look, we’re all waterbenders here. And this is Republic City. We gotta look out for each other. Like Mako, there- you think Mako’s rich? You think Mako’s got a lot of money to throw around? Look at this place. It’s a dump. But he spotted Narook’s a loan when they needed some in a tight place and all he asks is a weekly payment so he himself doesn’t starve to death.”

“Fuck you too Kentaro,” Mako called down from his seat up on the second floor, pleasantly.

“See?” said Seto. “He’s so weak he can’t even come down and kick my ass for talking smack about him.” He turned back to Aomine. “This is Red Monsoon ground,” he said. “We stick up for each other around here. You’re new, you don’t have steady work, you could use some jobs just until you find your feet. Honest work, honest pay.”

"So I'm enough of a sad case you're taking me?" said Aomine.

“I’m also taking Ryou,” said Seto, absolutely straight-faced. "All the hard cases. You in, or what?"

Aomine looked at Ryou's huge round eyes and shrugged. Fifty yuan and lunch. He wasn't getting a better deal today.

.0.

Kasamatsu paused and said, “Pro-bending?”

“Yes,” said Kise, booming his voice so he could be heard. At their table alone, over a dozen people chattered over their food. The windows of the dining room had been opened to relieve the crush of people and through them the air bison calves and yearlings repeatedly and hopefully stuck their heads in attracted by the smell of food, then had to be blown back by whoever was unlucky enough to be sitting near the window. The process would be repeated all over again when the calf caught itself from tumbling head-over-heels though the air, and came whooshing back delighted with this new game. “Our team is called the Lion-dogs, and we’re playing tomorrow night to get into the tournament. I’m earthbending. Ah, but you don’t need to come. I know it’s busy around here right now. We can save that for the championships.”

“You,” said Kasamatsu, not bothering to stop eating, “are an idiot.”

Kise looked injured, which he was good at. “Why?” he said.

“The conference is coming up,” said Kasamatsu. “You’re supposed to be in attendance. You can’t be in attendance if you’re fighting half the night.”

Kise shook his head. “These things always clear out for the night so that socialising and other such activities can happen,” he said. “I wriggled out of the last one-”

“And then they came crying to me-” growled Kasamatsu.

“- so I know there’s not going to be much happening,” said Kise. “I can do it. There’s no question. There’s- sempai, how do you know when the tournament runs from?”

Kasamatsu coloured right up to his ears. “Everyone knows,” he said.

“This is only the third year it’s being run by Aida-san,” said Kise. “It was different before. She told me so.”

“I said everyone knows,” said Kasamatsu.

“Sempai, are you a _fa_ -” Kasamatsu made a short sharp jerk of his hand, and blew Kise’s bowl into his face.

“I’m not,” said Kasamatsu. “I just sometimes- the radio is on and I listen to it, that’s all. Don’t overthink it.”

Kise brushed rice off his face and ate it. “We’re going to keep it quiet that I’m the Avatar,” he said.

Kasamatsu stared at him. Then he picked up Kise’s free hand, turned it around, and smacked Kise in his arrow with his arrow. Kise yelped, rubbing his forehead. On Kasamatsu, as well on Kise, the arrow tattoos signifying mastery of the art glowed a bright blue on the backs of both his hands and on his forehead. They ran the length of his back and arms and they rendered an airbender instantly recognisable. A number of Air Nomads, non-benders by birth, would never wear the mastery tattoos but lived and died in the air on the Air Bison who wore the same arrows in their fur. Kasamatsu had gotten his at sixteen, and had been considered a prodigy.

Kise had gotten his at ten.

“The uniforms cover the hands and head,” said Kise, in answer to this. “This is Republic City. I can pass for earthbender here, sempai.” If they hid his tattoos, he meant. Airbenders no longer shaved their heads completely, not even the guys, and under Kise’s fringe and a pro-bending safety helmet, the arrow would be much less noticeable.

“People aren’t _stupid_ ,” said Kasamatsu. “Your face is on the half the noodle packets in this city. You aren’t going to keep it a secret.”

“It’ll be troublesome if a lot of people knew,” said Kise.

“Your friends from that time know about this?” said Kasamatsu. “Aren’t you staying with them?”

“They’re in the team with me,” said Kise. “We’ve been training at night.”

Kasamatsu rolled his eyes. “Of course they are,” he said. “Are you guys actually any good?”

“Probably,” said Kise, and smiled. “I’m a good bender, sempai, you know that. And they’re good, too. Avatar Korra did it, it worked out for her.”

Kasamatsu said, “Winning isn’t just about bending. And your past lives don't have relevance to your own choi-”

Kise sighed and looked out the window, to where Hayakawa was awkwardly bouncing a calf up and down, trying to help her get over her fear of flying more than a foot off the ground. His hair fell over his eyes and gleamed in the noonday sun. “But what is?” he said, ignoring that last part.

This time, Kasamatsu hit him with the table.

.0.

Narook’s Noodles wasn’t the seedy little dive Aomine had been expecting from the Red Monsoon’s dilapidated gym, but a busy, chattering restaurant running over with customers. Apparently there was no longer an actual Narook, but the tourists liked the name and the history. Tetsu liked Water Tribe food and occasionally made a go of cooking it, which involved way too much seaweed and blubber for Aomine to stand it more than once a month, but Aomine slurped up two bowls without pausing when Seto got them led to a table in the middle of lunch rush and told the waitress to get them whatever they wanted. From where they were sitting, they could see the long open kitchen through the window, and the smell tugged at Aomine's stomach. Brine-broth and seawood noodles; it smelled a little like home.

Aomine paused in the middle of his third bowl to survey the restaurant. It was a mixed bag of people. Clerks from the offices one street over ate like they only had five minutes to do it in. Aomine and Ryou didn’t look out of place in their rough clothes in a crowd of workers. There was even a Fleet soldier in the brilliant red jacket and impractical white pants. Aomine had seen the huge gleaming battleships before, and Auntie Li’s oldest had gone off to enlist when he turned eighteen, but Kiyoshi Island didn’t see much of them otherwise. Ryou unfroze enough during the meal to offer some conversation; born and raised in Republic City- “Triple Threat territory,” said Ryou, and when Aomine blinked at him added, “Up by Dragonflats,” as though _that_ meant anything.

“Not in the Triple Threats, then?” said Seto, dumping another load of fire-spice on his leftover soup.

Ryou paled then, twitching visibly. “N-n-no,” he said. “I mean- waterbenders have to stick together, right? Right?”

“So right,” said Seto, then slurped it all up. “You boys sit here and look full. I’ll talk to the owner and get us paid for today.”

Aomine nudged Ryou once Seto was gone. “Triple Threats?” he said.

Ryou nodded. “They’re all three,” he said. “Except airbenders. Because airbenders are pacifists. I mean, they take all three benders. Not they _are_ all three benders. That would make them the Avatar. Not that the Avatar would- the Threats- they- um-”

Aomine took pity on him and changed the subject. “You do much work for Mako?” he said.

“Guard-work,” said Ryou. Aomine stared. Ryou didn’t look like he could scare off a cold. “But I’m- I’m trying- Seto-san took us- we’re just-”

A bowl shattered on the floor. Customers looked up sharply. Seto backed out of the kitchen slowly, eyes fixed on the bubbling hot soup floating in front of him. “Look,” he was saying, reasonably, “You want to renegotiate the terms of your contract, you just talk to Mako, right? Don’t scald the messenger-”

Aomine moved. One sweep of his arm and he had the ribbon of soup under his control, flicking it back into the face of the cook- who cursed the Red Monsoons- and then out again well above all their heads without spilling a drop. Customers scattered. Since this was Republic City, some of them took their noodles with them as they went.

Seto must have been preparing his strike; he flung ice shards at the cook hard enough to pin him to the wall of the kitchen, freezing the cook to the sink while he was at it. He stalked back into the kitchen. Shouts began to echo out of the tiny cramped space as Ryou stood and peered into the kitchen.

Aomine was about to follow Seto in to find a place to dump the soup. No trouble, his ass. Ryou’s shout was the only warning he had when a huge gush of water roared out of the kitchen, washing all of them away- Seto and Ryou into the street, and Aomine straight into the counter, missing every other customer and solidifying around his arms and legs.

Aomine looked up and into bespectacled green eyes, the waterbender- the _other_ waterbender- adjusting his specs as he straightened out of his stance. Aomine struggled against the ice bonds, but they were strong. Flawless, in fact. No one Aomine had met so far in Republic City froze ice like this, in memory of the floating mountains of the sea. This guy wasn’t any ordinary bender.

“Going somewhere?” said the other boy, cooly.

Aomine flexed his hands just right and the ice collapsed. This guy hadn’t frozen the water around his hands to immobilise his fingers. Aomine would make him regret that.

“Nah,” said Aomine, and dragged all the water in the restaurant up with him as he stood, shifting it around him, around them, whirling it as the Fleet Soldier who’d been eating with that guy eeped and began to usher the few customers left out of the restaurant. “I think that’s going to be you.”

.0.

Takao evacuated the civilians- nice words for _getting the hell out of Shin-chan’s way_ \- and looked around for the two Midorima had doused out of the restaurant before getting into it with the big one. Shin-chan would wrap him up in two seconds; Takao was more concerned for if there were any more gangsters around. The Red Monsoons liked to run in packs, and any group of waterbenders was a bad proposition. Waterbenders were co-operative by nature. Midorima was supposed to be good, but a few of them working in tandem could probably overwhelm him fighting by himself, and Takao had a sinking feeling about response time out by Narook’s at lunch. The police weren’t going to be here any time soon.

They were just sitting up, rubbing their heads, and gaping into the restaurant. Takao turned his head- Shin-chan, how was Shin-chan doing- and gaped.

Shin-chan and the third guy tore at each other. That was the only word Takao could think of to describe it, and he’d seen waterbenders go at it pretty hard before, one-on-one sparring in the fleet training grounds, nothing barred but death. The third guy continually sent out lashing whips to attack Shin-chan, and Shin-chan countered with shots of deadly force, hard enough that when the other fighter let one pass rather than absorbing or deflecting it, it punched a hole right through the entire length of the register counter- and the projectiles were liquid, not ice. If Midorima was unyielding and cautious in attack then his opponent was his opposite, bending everything at once, everywhere at once, sliding his entire offense to the side, turning it to defense in the next moment. Takao had never seen anyone _fight_ like that. And he had known that Midorima was supposed to be good in combat, but never seen anyone drive him to this furious focus. It was an ever-changing stalemate, and it seemed for long endless moments that the whole world stopped to stare.

Sirens broke the sound of rushing water. Midorima and the other guy jerked out of their stances and let their water drop at the impossibly loud noise, coming in fast. It shook the other Red Monsoon thugs out of their shock. They raced forward as the battlefield began to drain of water to grab their friend by the arms and shout at him to- Takao couldn’t hear, he couldn’t hear anything but that damn siren- and drag him off with them. Midorima tried to step forward to stop them, but their leader- the one who had gotten into it first with MIyaji-san- raised a quick sweeping wall of water, some kind of clever trick, and when Midorima had whipped clear of it they were gone, probably out through the kitchens.

Other people on the street were also trying to get clear, with no such luck. Metalbenders swung down from the newly arrived airship, and on the same cables followed the other officers, marked with the coloured sashes of their elements, or electric gloves fitted tight to their hands. Sighing, Takao put his hands on his head and sat down. This would probably take hours to sort out. See if he ever listened to Shin-chan again about where to go for lunch.

.0.

They went underground to escape the sirens, moving though what Seto called Red Monsoon Secret Tunnels that were really just sewers usually too flooded for people to move through, though Seto assured them people _did_ live down here, if they had nowhere else to go.

They would have to have nowhere else to go, thought Aomine. It was the fucking sewers. He had no idea where they were going, but Ryou at least seemed to have some idea.

Shit. Aomine hadn’t had a fight like that in _years_.

They emerged somewhere near the park and rinsed off with pond-water, then separated. Seto told them to both stay clear of the gym for a while- “Waterbenders fighting, they’ll roust every damn waterbender in town who doesn’t have the money to buy their innocence.” - and go home. Aomine slunk back to the arena and slept for the afternoon until Kiyoshi poked his head in with a package from a kid who’d told him to give it to Aomine Daiki. Kiyoshi, with great ceremony, took one yuan from Aomine to tip the kid with.

Aomine opened it. No one else was back yet. Inside the envelope was an envelope.

WIth a note.

 _Monsoons take care of their own_ , it read. In the second envelope was two hundred yuan in crisp clean notes, and Aomine’s eyes widened.

He went back inside and put the money on the table, so that Tetsu saw it when he came back in on his way to drop off Nigou before picking up supplies for dinner.

“Aomine-kun,” said Tetsu, fingering the notes.

“Got a new job,” Aomine said, lying on the platform and yawning, wincing. The glasses-guy’s hits were beginning to make themselves felt, and cracking into counter hadn't been good for him either. He was getting soft- Kagami and Kise hit hard, sure, but their practice was cushioned by enough padding to wrap china in. He'd have to get better at taking hits. Not that many people managed to land one on him.

“Good job?” said Tetsu, climbing up on the ladder to look at Aomine’ face. Nigou sat at the foot of the ladder and whined.

Aomine remembered meeting that other waterbender strike for strike for strike with all the motions of an endless shifting sea, and how Ryou had pulled him along with surprising strength and determination when Aomine would have lagged and been left behind. Tetsu was still holding onto the notes gingerly, carefully, and they rustled in his grasp. Aomine could go out to stock up for dinner with him. With that money, they could afford a few treats.

“Yeah,” he said. “Gonna see if I can get more.”


	3. Chapter 3

Kagami was the first of the others to return. Nigou greeted him by launching his small body down the staircase shaft onto Kagami’s face, barking excitedly. Kagami screamed and clutched the railing to keep from falling or dropping the lion-dog as Nigou wiggled all over his face and shoulders. Kuroko and Aomine failed to be of any of help whatsoever.

"It's nice how close you and Nigou are," said Kuroko placidly, when Kagami complained.

There wouldn’t be any practice tonight. Even the most undesirable of training slots became hot-ticket items the night right before a match, and Riko had advised them to get some rest anyway. Aomine, looking at the slump of Kagami’s shoulders while the firebender splashed his face in the bucket, privately agreed. Half his two hundred would be more than enough for all of them to eat out tonight, and tomorrow’s food sorted, too. After Kise rolled in through the open window stretching out his shoulders and complaining about being chewed out by half the elders for falling asleep during meditation, that only left Satsuki. It was decided that they would go down first and wait for her, both to save her the trip up and because _they were starving_. Aomine's injuries bit deep, and it was a good thing he was wearing his long-sleeved tunic, or he would have had a hard time explaining them. 

“Lightning bending really takes it out of me,” said Kagami.

“It would if you kept it up for that long,” said Kise. “I hear they’re moving to a more bending-based electricity generation system, but-” He trailed off as the other three stared at him. “That’s all I hear about,” Kise protested. “The energy crisis this, the bender representation that. Villages in the Earth Kingdom dying out and the Northern Tribe’s ice melting. It never stops.”

“Sometimes it’s hard to remember that Kise-kun is indeed the Avatar,” remarked Kuroko.

“Kurokochi!” Kise protested, but then shouting echoed down the hall to them, and he stopped talking to listen. 

“-and if you think you can show up with your thugs and threaten me,” came Riko’s voice, bouncing down the corridors, “Then you can go jump in the bay and good riddance to bad rubbish. I run a clean establishment, and I will not have you coming in here _flinging accusations_ -”

The source of this commotion became clear at the voice that drawled right out at them, slicker than a penguin-seal’s skin. “Miss Aida, there’s no accusations here,” said Imayoshi, who didn’t look much different form when they’d met the first day in Republic City. “We just thought, if you had any idea about the originators of the, um, _disturbance_ that occurred today, you’d maybe drop a word through the pro-bender network that Ah’d like a personal talk with him or her. Maybe a bit about how running with the Red Monsoons is kinda bad for the soul. You know this place was-”

Riko wasn’t done yet, and cut him off just as decisively. “Don’t you dare spout a word at me about this being old Triple Threat territory,” she snapped at him. “You know that sort of thing’s been defunct for years and I bought this place free and clear.”

Aomine had to give the guy his props; Imayoshi didn’t seem to have any problems standing squarely in the blast radius. Their own group stopped right in their tracks rather than attract the attention of an angry Aida Riko. “I’m jus’ sayin’,” he drawled, the words longer and slower than ever. Momoi was standing a little behind him with two guys right out of the brute squad, tall and capable-looking and calmly watching anyone who passed with ‘try not to decide to do something about me’ glances. Momoi was torn between looking embarrassed and looking decided, an expression Aomine most clearly recalled from the first time he’d seen Momoi break a civillian’s arm in public. It looked like Satsuki had landed on her feet, too. “The last time the Monsoons started prowling around here, y’were glad enough fer our help. Let’s help each other.”

“I no longer have any trouble with the Red Monsoons,” said Riko, with finality. Well outside the perimeter on the other side were some groups with a tendency to clump in threes, clearly other pro-bending hopefuls. Imayoshi must have caught Riko coming in for her night’s work. “And I’m not getting mixed up in all that business again. Get off my property.”

“I’m not on your property,” Imayoshi pointed out. His gaze traveled over the arena and somehow managed to pass over them without seeming to notice them, leaving them in no doubt that Imayoshi had noticed them perfectly well.

“Get out of sight of my property,” she snarled. “ _Now_.” Imayoshi shrugged and waved off his guys, bowing in farewell to Riko and casting a long lazy glance along the semi-gathered crowd, which took immediate pains to make themselves scarce in case Imayoshi remembered their faces.

Momoi raised a hand. “I, um, live here,” she said.

“So ya do,” said Imayoshi. “We’ll take our leave, Miss Aida. See ya tomorrow, Momoi.”

Satsuki waved at them as they went off, and got friendly nods from the other two. Nigou barked happily and ran towards the girls, leaving the rest of them no choice but to follow and no route to take anyway but right past Riko’s glare.

Riko shot Momoi a Look. 

“I didn’t think this was going to happen when they said they’d walk me home,” said Momoi, apologetically. “Anyway, there _was_ trouble today. Down in Dragonflats, which is... what did he say, Red Monsoon territory? Did you know they dispatched an airship? I’d never seen one that moved so fast before.”

Riko shot her an icy look. “Dragonflats is Triple Threats, as you very well know," she said, a touch sourly. “Nothing but the best for our police force. And I’ll take advice from one of Imayoshi’s lackeys when I feel like it, thank you very much.”

Momoi shrugged, rather in imitation of her boss who’d just strolled off. “We’ve all got to make a living,” she said.

Riko muttered something and then strode back into the Arena’s depths. They shrank back against the trash cans to avoid catching her eye, but Nigou earned himself an ear-scratch from the girl, petting him with no regard for her expensive clothes and his growing mane of fur. Kiyoshi detached himself from the wall to follow Riko- the first time any of them had been aware that the earthbender was there, watching. He’d almost melted into the background, but he’d been there. Huh. Aomine wondered if Imayoshi had known that Riko hadn’t been facing him down alone before he’d backed off at seeing three clearly strong benders come out of the Arena. Kiyoshi was clearly no ordinary earthbender. He waved at all of them; automatically they waved back.

“Boys,” said Satsuki, smiling. “Why are you all down?”

Aomine rubbed his forefinger and thumb at her. “We’re flush tonight,” he said, pleased. “We’re going out to eat.”

“Momoi-san,” said Kuroko, looking after the closing path in the crowd Imayoshi had left in his wake, “Were you with-”

“I got something more secure today too,” said Satsuki, brightly, and slipped her arm through Tetsu’s, reassuringly, “Where should we go? I know you like Water Tribe food and I heard good things about Narook’s, but that whole section of town is closed off tonight.”

“I know a place,” said Kise, who’d reached for a glider he hadn’t brought down with him when the shouts became apparent. He looked at Kiyoshi's back with curiosity.

“Vegetarian?” said Kagami.

“No,” said Aomine, decisively. “Kise can chew his rabbit food, but I want some meat.”

.0.

By the time Aomine woke the next day, it was late afternoon and Kagami had left food on the table, but had gone back to his own sleep, spread out on the futon beside Aomine’s bare-chested in the fire nation style, his pendant gleaming in the sun sparkling through the huge attic windows. Aomine vaguely remembered waking at some point to eat breakfast and then promptly passing out again once he was full, Kise promising to return earlier than his usual today and Satsuki extracting the promise from Kagami to not try to go in to work today. Tetsu had told Nigou to look after them, which Aomine felt was over-ambitious. Probably Tetsu just hadn’t wanted to bring the mutt to work with him today.

Aomine yawned and stretched. Sleeping for nearly twelve hours straight had fixed the last of the kinks in his body from fighting that waterbender- that other waterbender- and he felt raring to go. Kagami looked better, too, after eating what Aomine swore was twice his body weight in food last night and sleeping in. You could tell that Kagami was royalty, really. He didn’t have a scratch or scar on his body, or they’d all been healed up pretty by expensive and experienced royal healers, and only Fire Nation royals had those extraordinarily sharp and clear yellow-red eyes, the product of years of inbreeding. Aomine had thought, working the boats at Kiyoshi Island, he’d seen every type of person there was, but in Republic City the races had mixed and produced fog-eyed earthbenders, firebenders with mud-brown colouring, and dark-skinned airbenders with their fine hair shaved from their heads. Kise himself, airbender to the bone, had the yellow fire eyes, picked up by his nomad mother from some other traveler somewhere in the cold nights bison-back over an arctic sea.

Aomine himself couldn’t have been more stereotypically Water Tribe if he’d tried, even then a rarity in their village just on the edge of earth and water. But they’d never found his parents among the Southern Tribe, and Aomine had never bothered looking further afield for what he did not miss.

Nigou woke when Aomine padded down, rinsing out his mouth with water from the bucket he iced over and then broke with one well-aimed fist. He fed Nigou an ice shard, then absently erased the last of the bruises from his chest.

“We’re going to win tonight,” he said to Nigou. No one was better at bending than he was, not even some bespectacled rich boy important enough to have a United Fleet soldier escort him out to lunch. “Those two aren’t bad, either. We’ll do it.”

“Why are you talking to _the dog_ ,” said Kagami, blearily staring at them over the railing that kept them from rolling out of bed to the ground.

“He’s smarter than _you_ ,” said Aomine. “Besides, I think he’s Tetsu’s spirit animal. I’ve heard about those. They’re smart. Look how much he looks like Tetsu.”

“My brother has one,” said Kagami. “But it’s not always like that.”

“A spirit animal?” said Aomine.

“Yeah,” said Kagami. “He’s- seriously, how do you not know this shit? Everyone knows this shit. I think I met hermits on mountains who knew this stuff about the crown prince.”

“I had more important things to think about,” said Aomine, with dignity. This was partially true. Until the Kise had fallen into their lives, Aomine had not even known or cared that the Avatar was the same age as them, and had not needed to in the least. He certainly hadn’t known jack shit about the Fire Nation royal family, or any other royal family, for that matter. “Like I do right now. Like how badly we’re going to kick everyone’s asses tonight.”

Kagami grunted. He didn’t usually talk about his brother, but had been sleepy enough to offer something; Aomine didn’t push. He rather thought you didn’t walk out of a palace and not go back in two years for no reason, even if you were Kagami, who had thrown in his lot with them without blinking, who was clearly mentally defective in a million myriad ways.

“We ready?” said Kagami, once he was properly awake and Aomine had whined him into assembling last night’s substantial leftovers into something even more appetising.

“ _I’m_ ready,” said Aomine, which was all the answer he needed to give.


	4. Chapter 4

Shin-chan was still seething. Takao felt a little out of temper himself, but after a night of watching Midorima rage up and down the police station at being arrested like the rest of the plebeians the lieutenant was more exhausted than anything else. Even Shin-chan had lost steam as the sun had come up, going from ranting against the hold that gangs still had in the poorer parts of Republic City and demanding some accountability to grumbling over a cup of tea while- huh.

Actually, Takao wasn't sure what Midorima was doing now. Little whirlpools formed and dissipated in the untouched third cup of tea, and Shin-chan stared unseeing at the statue of Avatar Kiyoshi on the table in front of him. He'd rarely seen Shin-chan like this. His coat was off again in deference to the stifling heat of the underground waiting room, and through the open collar of his undershirt Takao could see the dark shapes of bruising. Their elevated status had granted them a separate room in which to wait for the representative of the Northern Water Tribe to be roused to fetch them. Takao didn't expect Nakatani to even hurry his breakfast. Boys who got themselves in trouble brawling in the streets of Republic City would elicit none of his sympathy, and deserved everything they got. Takao, all of twenty, generally felt five again under Nakatani's cold blue stare, icy enough to quell even Midorima mid-complaint.

"We'll be out in a bit," Takao lied, gripping Midorima by the shoulder. "Don't mind, Shin-chan."

"I don't _mind_ ," said Midorima, but the tea stopped moving. "It was obvious we were not the cause of the disturbance. There were plenty of eyewitness accounts to that effect."

"Then what is it?" said Takao, who had learned early on it was best to press Shin-chan for direct answers with direct questions. "Is it that guy you threw down with?"

Shin-chan's eyes narrowed behind his glasses, but his silence was answer enough.

Takao stepped back and stretched. "He was a shock," he said. "But there're a lot of benders in Republic City, Shin-chan. Some of them had to be good. He was just really good."

Midorima looked down at his tea again. Two distinct waves formed and chased each other around and around in an endless cycle, push, pull.

"You're still the strongest waterbender _I_  know," said Takao.

Midorima said nothing. Takao peered at his face. "You think he's stronger than you," said Takao, with disbelief.

"He could be," said Midorima, his voice colored with faint distaste. "Neither of us exerted ourselves yesterday. And he's sloppy. There's no training there to speak of, he must be self-taught." But he had stood his ground against Midorima Shintarou, and he had held it. Midorima was matchless among the Northern Tribe, where he had been born, and the best waterbenders of the Southern Tribe. He had tried himself against Fleet-trained waterbenders who handled hurricanes and was considered a master in his own right, a natural-born genius. Takao sometimes had the feeling that this proud, prickly kid was better than even his own opinion of himself. But like recognizes like, even brawling in a noodle shop with a gangster who moved like bottled lightning, who had dragged on Midorima’s bending like fighting the ocean-tide. Like had gone snarling for Shin-chan without a pause, the stranger arrowing in him, and known like, Midorima practically ready to drag him out into the street to settle their conflict.

Takao was not sure it would be comfortable to believe in fate.

"The benders are all going to go to ground now," said Takao, soothingly. Midorima let the tea lapse back in stillness. "You two fucked up the sewer system with all that water, and it was noisy enough that they had to drag out the air patrols and shut down that district. They're stepping up security for the conference, too, so we'll have fleet soldiers along soon watching to see that no one even breathes hard on our VIPs. If he has any sense, he'll lay low for a nice long while until they forget about him. You don't need to worry about him, Shin-chan."

"I'm not _worried_ ," said Midorima, acidly, but was diverted. “The Fleet is returning?”

“They’ve only been talking about it all month,” said Takao. When he’d been serving, he’d looked forward to the three weeks of land-leave back in Republic City, with _people_. Food _worth eating_. And the sensation of solid ground under his feet. Now, Takao would have given anything to be out there again, on patrol up and down the eastern coastline.

“Akashi will be returning, then,” said Midorima, and drummed long fingers on the table.

“Akashi?” said Takao. “Er, do you mean-”

“Commander Akashi of the Second Division of the United Republic Fleet,” said Midorima, patiently as though to a very small child. “I thought you served in the Second Division.”

“You know him?” said Takao, a little weakly. He’d known Midorima was a big-shot, but _Commander Akashi_...

“We play pai-sho by telegraph,” said Midorima. “You’ve seen me transmit the messages.”

Takao gaped. “I thought-” _that was just something else weird you did_ , Takao did not say. Instead he said, “You two are friends?” That would be about right, actually. Midorima was seventeen, and the commander a year older, and- no, it was still weird.

Somehow Shin-chan looked put out. “We’re acquainted,” he said. He tipped his head forward and his eyes narrowed behind his glasses, and Takao thought, for a second, a wild unreasoned unthinking second, _if I could talk to the commander, if I could just talk to him and make him understand-_

"I need to find today's lucky item," Midorima said. Takao bit down on the words.

“Fine,” he said to the waterbender. “What is it today?”

.0.

Hyuuga kicked the last of the would-be pro-benders from the office and glared in satisfaction at the finally completed wall chart. It was always the same with these jackasses. They thought they could come in and wave a lot of cash around, buy themselves a better place or their match an easier judgement. Hyuuga didn't mind, really. He regarded it as a kind of vocal warm-up. Even Imayoshi’s visit yesterday after the disturbance hadn’t done anything to quell them.

That had put Riko _and_ Kiyoshi into a bad mood. But the gossip was that some bigwig’s son had been mixed up in it, and that Red Monsoons weren’t being too vocal about disclaiming their involvement, and if any of the pro-benders had been stupid enough to get mixed up with stone-cold psychos like the Red Monsoons Hyuuga was going to find some way to rip their intestines out through their nostrils. And they would end up disqualified and banned from the league. Riko had been very clear on that, when she’d started. You stayed out of trouble or you stayed out of the Arena.

Hyuuga hadn't anticipated much trouble with this year's batch, to be honest. The Rabba-Roo's shit-starting waterbender had gone off to have a baby, and by and large the remainder who'd qualified this far had their eyes firmly fixed on the prize. They also knew better than to get mixed up with gangs. But the new team... Hyuuga's eyes slid to their name written on the chart. The Lion-Dogs. Living in the Arena's attic, of all places. Kiyoshi had taken an immediate liking to them, somehow managing to offer them the attic and a slot and his services as a trainer in the space of five minutes, smiling all the while like butter wouldn’t melt in mouth.

"They're good kids," said Kiyoshi, doing his mind-reading thing. Hyuuga jumped, and glared. He'd been staring fixedly at the Lion-Dog's slot as his thoughts raced.

Kiyoshi smiled at him. “They’re good kids,” he repeated. “They’ll do fine. They’ve been doing much better in practice.”

Hyuuga glared at him some more, seeking to drill holes into Kiyoshi’s empty brain with the sheer power of his mind. Some day, it would work. Some day. “You’ve been at all their practices?’ he said. The referee had gone to a few himself- first to see where Kiyoshi had run off to and then mainly to spare himself some pain later, when he’d seen how... bad, probably, wasn’t the word. Hyuuga had been watching benders for long enough he could fancy he had an eye for talent, and they were certainly better than _him_ , or at least Kagami was. If Hyuuga had had half his training, maybe two years ago they wouldn’t have been- well. Maybe the word was _green_ , so new to this way of bending. Hyuuga had seen fifty ways to roll them up in the first round, ways that had nothing to do with bending and everything to do with skill. It had irritated him.

“You don’t have enough work to do keeping this place clean? What do we even pay you for?” _Why them_ , he did not ask. _You don’t bend in two years, and suddenly you’re all over the Avatar and his little friends, acting like nothing’s changed. What changed, Kiyoshi?_ He did not ask any of these things, because he knew he would get no answer, and only give Kiyoshi the mingled pain and satisfaction of being asked.

"But Hyuuga," said Kiyoshi, earnestly. "I think nurturing the young may be my calling."

"They're three years younger than us at most," pointed out Hyuuga. "And one of them is, though I am aware you may not have noticed, _the Avatar_."

"Yes," said Kiyoshi. "Their earthbender. Hyuuga, don't you know this?"

Hyuuga punched the table. His hat wobbled on the edge of it.

"Are we still keeping quiet on that?" said Izuki, who had come in to survey tonight's line-up and devise his puns ahead of time. He sat curled into the sofa in the corner, scribbling madly in his notebook. The hot honey-lemon drink Mitobe made for him on match nights sat steaming at his hand. "His manifestation could be manifestly be good for us."

"We won't be able to avoid it down the road if they get through to quarters and semis," said Hyuuga. "But he asked us to keep it quiet for now and I agree. If he loses, fine, they're out of the tournament. If he wins, that's a shining endorsement of us and so many people will want to see what happens they _can't_ shut us down."

"Aren't Air Nomads pacifists?" said Izuki, thoughtfully.

“We’re going to find out,” said Hyuuga. “Do you really think-”

“I think they’ll do great,” said Kiyoshi. “They’re very talented benders, you know.”

“Yes,” said Hyuuga, drily. “So you’ve said.”

.0.

Kise went quiet as the evening wore on and turned into night, gathering up his legs into the lotus position and meditating to calm his nerves. To Aomine’s surprise, Kagami did so too, mirroring him on the other side of the attic, back against the wall. At first Aomine just thought Kagami had gone to sleep, but he was hot to the touch, and he breathed deep and even, in a regular pattern.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

Kagami waited to push out his breath before replying. "Firebending comes from the breath," he said. In, expanding with it, and out. "I'm breathing."

Aomine watched him for a moment before looking at Kise. "And you?" he said.

Kise opened one eye. "Mou, Aominechi," he said. "Don't you ever get nervous? We're just calming down, that's all."

Aomine lifted an eyebrow. "Is that all?" he said. "There's nothing to be worried about." Nigou, the only energetic one, chattered and bounced in puppy-talk, attacking the bit of knotted rope he had as one of his toys and occasionally making one of his repeated attempts to reach the upper level of the sleeping platforms, and thus Kise and Kagami. His doggy legs, however, could not manage ladders, much to his clear disgust.

"Look how sad he is," said Aomine, after the fifth such attempt. He stretched his long arm down from the bunk, and watched Nigou leap higher and higher in an attempt to catch it. Aomine stole Kagami's pillow and dangled that too. Kise laughed, watching them go at it. Kagami just kept his eyes closed.

Aomine lifted the pillow up. Nigou hung on the edge of it, jaws clamped and growling. "Good dog," he said to the puppy. "Aren’t you a good boy."

Nigou wagged his tail, then let go and dropped to the floor, landing on his feet. He ran to the ladder and barked at it. When he judged the time was right, he belly-flopped down once more. Momoi squealed.

"Dai-chan!" she called.

Aomine, sniggering, dropped over the side of the bunk and reached down the hole to grab Nigou off Satsuki's face. She passed him a few bundles while she was at it, heavy ones which he carried to the table.

"Thank you, Aomine-kun," said Tetsu, bringing up the rear with yet more.

Kagami set out their dinner, while Kise and Aomine helped haul all the packages up the stairs.

"What's this," said Aomine, already scrabbling at the wrappings, "Where've you two been, anyway-" he fell silent as he uncovered brand-new pro-bending uniforms, black and red and blue, the helmets with tempered glass faceplates tinted blue and an embroidered lion-dog silhouette on the chest in white. There was even a vest for Nigou, with in the Lion-Dog colours. Aomine lifted up the uniforms and stared at them and stared.

"Riko-san helped us," said Momoi, looking pleased. "I forgot to tell you yesterday, but I got a sign-on bonus from my new- oh, stop staring and put them on. I can see you want to."

Kise was already stripping out of his shirt, Tetsu fitting Nigou with his mascot uniform. Satsuki helped Aomine bandage his hands while he put on the padding. It fit perfectly.

"Now you have to win," she remarked, adjusting the helmet on Aomine's head. "Can't let all this go to waste."

Aomine flexed his hands in the gloves and curled them around her elbows, inexpressibly happy. Kise's golden hair shone against the black, his arrow hidden under the headpiece, and Kagami stretched out on the floor, sleek and strong. Tetsu fed Nigou tidbits off his plate and petted the puppy as it tried over and over again to bite at the vest, astonished at discovering this strange thing called clothing.

"We're going to win," he said to her.

"I know," she said, and smoothed her hand over his hair, easy and familiar.

.0.

Tonight was the last of the qualifiers. The teams who'd left it until now to try for their slots were those newer and less exciting teams who didn't have generous sponsors or the skill to settle their participation early and then train to match up with the best. Consequently, the Arena didn't expect the best crowd tonight. Only the friends and family of such teams tended to show up, mostly for moral support.

Even then, they were _loud_. Aomine had forgotten, in the one week since the last match, the massive curving glass roof and hundreds of lights, the way that the announcer’s voice rolled off the walls and the water and bounced back in a solid wall of sound. The Lion-Dogs were ignored as they walked into the waiting area.

Qualifier rules were simple. Teams fought in rotations, and it wouldn't be uncommon to come up against another team at least twice. Each team had an allowance of two losses before they were kicked out, and the winners went on fighting. Strategies began to tell in the later rounds, when you could find yourselves playing three matches in quick succession, enough to tire even the hardiest benders. There was very little of the flashy moves and combos which might end up displayed at a regular match- here, what counted was your ability to stay in the ring and keep going. You could get lucky in a qualifier- if you were _very_ lucky. To simply forfeit when a teammate dropped from exhaustion wasn't uncommon. Ten teams would become one pretty fast.

Some of the rookie teams had no stamina worth speaking of. Two rounds of fast-paced action was enough to tire them out, and by their third match they were exhausted, even after sucking down energy drinks and taking frequent rests while the other teams played. The Lion-Dogs' more traditional bending roots showed here to best advantage. After only a short break, they were up again and raring, with no substantial loss of concentration and power. Hyuuga's shouting had taken some effect- Aomine kept himself in check, losing himself in the one-two rhythm of the Arena, flinging one shot and then the next with deadly accuracy. They took out their first opponents that way: a mixed trio with some fancy combos and a steady firebender who was the foundation of their team play. Aomine went for her without blinking. Kise followed suit and soon she fell into the drink, leaving the other two blinking desperately at each other and unable to pick who they should have ganged up on. Kagami knocked the earthbender back two zones- he wobbled and fell, calling for his teammate- and then Aomine knocked the last one out with a feint and duck. Sparring with the Red Monsoons hadn’t been a waste of time. All the pro-benders fought like this, in this same way. Aomine almost felt sorry for them. The Lion-Dogs won by knockout in the third round. Hyuuga breathed a sigh of relief and waved the next two in.

"Lion-Dogs not going to take this _lion_ down," said Izuki. "Next up, Buffalo-Yaks and Swamp-Cats, digging in!"

Buffalo-Yaks were wily. An older team up for their second shot at a qualifier, they'd learned enough to let the youngsters punch themselves out trying to get them out of the way early and then just had to outlast them. They had a new waterbender, Tsugawa, and he had the spark that steady Iwamura and clever Kasuga needed to pep up a steady combination that was the foundation of their success in previous years. Their bending wasn't beautiful, but it was solid, every hit well-placed, not a teammate out of step. They traded blows carefully with the Lion-Dogs in the first round of their second match of the night, knocking them back one by one to win the round. Kise made them pay for this in the next round, pounding Iwamura until the other earthbender slid into their second zone, sounding the buzzer.

In the third round Kagami rolled across the zone chased by Iwamura’s earth discs and into Kise’s line of vision. Tsugawa saw his chance in the split second of distraction and whammied Kise straight-on. Kise, no featherweight, was blasted back two zones in an instant, teetering right on the edge, his arms pinwheeling. Aomine felt the rush of air- that idiot was going to _air bend,_ and get them disqualified-

"KISE," Aomine shouted. Kise, startled, went limp and toppled off the side with a cry.

"LION-DOGS DOWN AN EARTHBENDER," roared Izuki over the splash. "THEY'RE WITHOUT A ROCK NOW!"

Aomine ground his teeth and tried a blast at Tsugawa, but dunking Kise had broken the Lion-Dog's rhythm, and Buffalo-Yaks won on points, two rounds to one.

Kise was waiting for them, wincing, with a bag of ice pressed against his shin. He'd asked another waterbender to make it, to preserve his fiction of being just an earthbender. Aomine melted it at once and set to work, drawing the heat off the muscle while Kise sighed in relief.

"That's going to slow me down," he said. Kise didn’t earthbend as much as he bent- well, anything else.  "Dammit, I thought only the lousy teams were left."

"That's what makes it fun, right?" said Kagami, gulping down whole lemons floating in honey, Momoi's idea of an energizing snack. No one except the teams were allowed into the waiting areas during the Qualifiers, more out of space concerns than anything else. Five teams had already been eliminated, and some of them were crying quietly in the corridor outside. Momoi and Kuroko sat in the stands with Nigou and Kuroko's friends from work, who cheered gamely for the Lion-Dogs.

"We can't afford another loss," said Aomine. "The rest of the teams are shit-" the next waiting team gave him a dirty look "-but those Buffalo-Yaks knew what they were doing. Their fucking waterbender likes to play with his targets."

Kagami was watching the continuing fights. "The firebender is saving himself," he reported. "They know they've got to last the night to the final match and they're lining us up before he strikes so they count for two of us at a time. We won’t have it easy if we burn out before we see them again."

"I'm still fresh," said Aomine.

"Same," said Kise, determinedly. "He won't get me like that next time."

"You almost bent yourself back up," said Kagami.

Kise waved his hands in the universal gesture for _forget it._ “It won't happen again," he said. "That water hurts, though." He pouted, which probably meant he was feeling better.

"Don't fall into it," Aomine said. Nothing was broken; Kise was just going to be sore and bruised, even with what Aomine could do for him.

"NEXT MATCH OTTER-DOGS AND LION-DOGS WHO'S GOING TO BE BARKING TONIGHT?"

"Does he ever stop," said Kagami, looking pained.

"Apparently not," said Kise. “It’s nice, though. Usually the commentary is so boring.”

"Let's go," said Aomine, and pulled his gloves back on.

As the night wore on and teams were eliminated, Kagami's prediction came true. The Lion-Dogs once again faced up against the Buffalo-Yaks for the final round of the night. Buffalo-Yaks had forfeited a round earlier, leaving the Elbow-Leeches to go up against the Lion-Dogs for the chance to fight Buffalo-Yaks at the final instead of the other way around. As a result, they were refreshed from sitting out, while the Lion-Dogs faced the last match of the night as their third fight in a row, still panting from beating the Elbow-Leeches. True to their name, they hung on and did not let go.

"Damn canny bastards," said Aomine, rolling out his shoulders. He'd been bounced off the ropes a few times and hit the drink twice. The frenetic pace of being battered all night was beginning to tell on him. The crowd was whooping for the Lion-Dogs. Their matches had been well-fought, and Buffalo-Yaks had gone from being the favourites to in imminent danger- _if_ the Lion-Dogs could sustain their pace.

"Second time," said Kise, grimly. He glared at Tsugawa, grinning at them across the line. "Okay, let's go."

Buffalo-Yaks hit the ground running. You could _hear_ the crowd pepping up, and not just because it was the last match, either. Kagami alone of the Lion-Dogs hadn’t yet taken a splashing- ‘WATER AFRAID OF THIS FIRE BOY FOR ONCE’, Izuki yowled- mostly due to a downright supernatural ability to keep his feet, rarely being outright downed by a strike and quick to regain his footing when he did. But that also meant he’d had to cover for his teammates while they were absent from the ring, and with his heavy attacking style and encroaching fatigue he was falling into the rhythms of bending kata, sharp, clean, regular and altogether _predictable_. Kise’s leg was hurting again too, from three matches in a row without a pause; he couldn’t cover Kagami and Aomine while they attacked as quickly or as cleanly as before.

Kasuga dodged Kagami’s four hits and came in with a strong fire blast just shy of the neck, knocking Kagami into Aomine just as Aomine flipped away from Iwamura’s attack. As they wobbled, Tsugawa sent a hit which rolled them into the third zone, dangerous territory. BZZT. Aomine dragged himself up, wincing. They were _damn_ close to the edge.

“FIRST ROUND TO THE BUFFALO-YAKS,” cried the announcer, somehow still chipper. “VETERANS VS ROOKIES, WHO’S GOT THE TEETH TO LAST OUT THE NIGHT?”

“Bakgami,” Aomine hissed, grabbing Kagami’s collar as they reassembled at the centre. Kise was limping; the last few stomps had taken it out of him hard. He even starting to lead with his uninjured foot. Anyone could see Kise’s hits coming from a mile away.

“He’s not holding back anymore,” said Kagami. “We’re going to have to block har- look, let’s take out Iwamura first thing next round. He’s holding them down, if we drop him out they’ll be wide open the whole round.”

“Sounds like a plan,” said Kise. He stretched out his leg. Above them, another ref debated with Hyuuga if that Kasuga’s strike had been close enough to the head to count, an argument that raged across the empty space with the power of two excellent pairs of lungs.

Tsugawa chose this moment to say, “Does it hurt? Does your leg hurt? Does it really really hurt?”

“...Of course it does,” said Kise.

Tsugawa’s face split into a wide smile. “That’s great,” he said. “You know, if you want to forfeit, I’m sure you could be resting that foot with a nice healer in no time.”

“We’re not going to forfeit,” growled Kagami.

“Yeah!” said Kise.

“Well, if you don’t want to,” said Tsugawa. “Earthbenders are really dependant on their legs, though, so if you push yourself too hard, you might effect your bending ability _forev-_ OW, what was that for.”

“You’re an obnoxious little twerp,” said Kasuga, shaking out his hand.

“Mean!” whined Tsugawa.

“We’re going to kick your asses,” said Kagami, bristling at the Buffalo-Yaks.

Iwamura said nothing, which Aomine was beginning to appreciate in an opponent. He heard Kagami’s strategy clear as day: act pissed at Tsugawa. Look like you’re about to take down Tsugawa. Smack Iwamura out of the ring instead.

Kasuga got the yellow fan for his infraction, and they lined up for the second round. As the buzzer sounded, Kagami and Kise threw his punches at Tsugawa, which Iwamura expected. He mounted a quick defense, solid and well-placed- and then Kise’s earth discs veered sharply in mid-air, shattering against Iwamura’s breastplate in the same breath as Aomine’s water blast, sending him ricocheting off the ropes and onto the ground. Kasuga tried to get in the way of Kagami’s follow-up strike, but was unprepared for the sheer power of it; it sent them both into the water in one devastating hit. Tsugawa gaped and stared, twisting his head around in confusion, but his teammates were both gone, and now all the Lion-Dogs seized their chance, driving him back one zone, two, until he stumbled into the third zone and they advanced for the knockout blow. Aomine had to give it to the obnoxious little twerp: he _was_ good. But now Kagami and Kise, seeing a quick end to the fighting, were throwing their best without holding back, and they battered him backwards in one final burst of energy, relentless. Aomine finished it with a shot to Tsugawa’s head, and the sound of the splash was sweet music to Aomine’s ears.

“LION-DOGS WIN BY A KNOCKOUT,” yelled Izuki; even a tired and sparse crowd were on their feet, shouting and cheering; and Satsuki and Tetsu loudest of all, even though Aomine couldn’t hear them, over being crushed by Kagami and Kise and crushing them back, looking at the red lights signifying their win on the scoreboard, over the roar of victory. “LION-DOGS ARE GOING TO THE TOURNAMENT, WHAT A MATCH, THE LEAGUE BETTER LOOK OUT FOR THEIR LOOKOUT! WHAT A MATCH!”


	5. Chapter 5

The day after the first tournament match, Kise stood on his feet and dreamed of victory.

_\- match over, and if they had thought that the qualifiers were noisy then they hadn’t been prepared for the first round of the tournament, seats packed and fans ready and roaring for it, a tiredbeatdowndowntrodnogoodpeople ready to take Republic City by storm, or at least to watch them do it, ready to be hypedupbunkereddownworkedoutmadetoscreamliketheymeantit ready to watch benders beat the crap out of each other but to do it with style and call it entertainment, ready to watch them bleed and call it glory._

_Aominechi ripped off his helmet and spread his arms to the stands and screamed back out at them in victory. Kagamichi raised Kise’s hand in his, laughing under his glass-faced helmet while Kise tried to catch his breath and only caught the fever, Republic City roaring with a hundred thousand voices, one voice, if only you opened your ears to hear it. Republic City jumping electric from house to hovel to heaven radio to radio to the sound of rain falling on the rooftop givemeyourtiredhungrywanderingseekingwanting and I will devour you whole and make you mine as I am yours-_

And to think Kise had once thought this city didn’t have a soul.

Someone pointedly cleared their throat, and Kise jumped awake. His glider, which he had been using to prop himself up, slid out of his hands, but Kise grabbed back for it under the glares of the United Republic Council. To a man- and one woman- they eyed him with all the icy power of Republic City’s supreme governing body who controlled the United Republic of Nations and the not-unimpressive United Forces.

Kise had always gotten the impression that they thought him a little flighty compared to Avatar Ira, but Kise had also once been told by his predecessor that the best way to deal with uppity rulers who made redundant demands on the Avatar’s time was volcanos. Surely there was some kind of middle ground to be found there.

 Kise stifled a yawn. He was still sore from the match last night, even more sore than he had been after the elimination matches. Their opponents had been terrifying, advancing with such violence that they’d managed to give Kagamichi his first dunking in the whole season- only to be answered by Kagamichi’s own violence, snarling back from the dismal first round with awakening fury and ruthless attacks. Kagamichi was just like his brother in that regard, though Kise knew Kagamichi would not appreciate the comparison.

Kagamichi and Aominechi were still sleeping off last night- or at least they had been when Kise left, called by an urgent messenger to attend the United Republic Council in session. Kise grumbled internally. The trouble with being the Avatar was that you knew _exactly_ what you had done in a past life to deserve this- the same thing you’d done in all the previous ones: save the world.

On the far end of the bench Aida Kagetora sprawled in his chair, scruffy as always. Kise tried to smile at him- as Riko-san’s father, surely he’d be a bit more welcoming- but Kise’s hopes were dashed by Kagetora’s cold stare. The Council’s non-bending representative had always been friendly before, but now even more than Nakatani and Araki- definitely not morning people, either of them- his disapproval radiated from the bench.

Takeuchi cleared his throat. “Kise,” he said. “We understand you participated in a pro-bending match last night?”

Oh, man. “Yes,” said Kise, after a short internal debate about ratting out Kagamichi that began and ended with ‘can’t, he makes me nice food and never tries to kill me in my sleep’. “We won! My team’s called the Lion-Dogs.” He smiled winningly.

“We are aware,” said Nakatani. He waved a newspaper at Kise. Kise caught only glimpses of the headline, AVATAR and PRO-BE- and LION and WIN.

Oh, _man_.

“Avatar.. Korra... did it too?” he offered, weakly. “There’s precedent.”

Takeuchi, expressively, put his hand over his eyes. Kise could tell the elder was going to be very relieved when he could turn the job over to Kasamatsu. As soon as he possibly could.  

“Really,” said Representative Araki. She kept forgetting to drink her tea, and intermittent puffs of steam rose from it as she reheated it each time.

“It’s not-” said Harasawa, tugging on his bangs, his metal bracelet coiling and uncoiling on his arm, “wrong. But it does feel inadvisable. The Conference is in a week, and the delegates are already arriving. We understand the finals _are_ running concurrently with the business of the Conference-”

Kagetora _tch_ ed. “Listen, prettyboy,” he said, leaning over the table. “Pro-bending is a bad business. Half the teams get fielded by gangs and the other half beggar themselves trying to stay in fighting shape as bruisers. We certainly can’t stop you from doing whatever you want to do,” he said, a little sourly, matching glares with Araki, “And I get you’ll want to keep your promises to your teammates, but you gotta think about what it looks like you’re condoning as the Avatar.”

It was on the tip of Kise’s tongue to ask what his daughter was condoning as owner and operator of the biggest local pro-bending league in Republic City, but several internal filters honed over millennia hurriedly cut in and assured him he didn’t want to get between the Aidas and _anything_. Instead, Kise straightened up and put on his best don’t-bother-me face, somewhere between Aominechi’s example and Akashichi’s. “I won’t let it interfere with my attendance at the conference,” Kise said, as if reciting a lesson he’d learned by rote. “And we’re not engaging in anything with gangs. We’re just trying for the championship, that’s all. I wanted to keep my involvement low-key, but obviously that is no longer an option.”

“ _Obviously_ ,” said Nakatani heavily, “that is clearly the case.”

Kise shrugged, expressively. “We can’t quit _now_ ,” he said. In someone less exalted it would have been a whine. “We’re just having fun.” Clerks were beginning to pour into the main room, laden with the business of the day. The Council was starting early, nowadays, as well as ending late. “Are we done here?”

“No,” said Araki, impartially eyeing the other representatives, the Avatar, and the busy clerks with an expression that suggested she could think of a great many uses for her hot tea. “We also wanted to inform you that Commander Akashi has called for a closed session and requested your presence. We received the message last night and made arrangements to inform all the relevant parties.”

“Then we decided you might as well make the trip,” said Kagetora. “It’s later in the afternoon, when the _Victory_ docks. Apparently it can’t wait.”

“Hah,” said Kise. “That’s early.” The flagship of the second division hadn’t been supposed to get in until next week.

“As stated,” said Nakatani, “it cannot wait.”

.0.

Aomine woke to an empty attic and a note on the table reminding him that pro-bending and training did not pay anyone's bills. He rolled his eyes as he read it: he had a job tonight, as Kagami damn well knew, and they had cash, _he_ had cash, lots of it. The job wouldn't even be until the sun went down. Some events were going down, events important enough that even the roaring mechanism of the Republic City pro-bending league ground to a halt as the _Victory_ and her convoy docked and thousands of Fleet soldiers flooded the city, coinciding with the retinues of diplomats of a hundred cities, and with them came out in force the peddlers and entrepreneurs of Republic City, discovering in their heart of naked hearts a sudden burning need to recreate and taste the dishes their long-ago grandmothers made in the lands from which they came, to rediscover the ancient art of bone-carving, to sing nomadic songs and dance like hot coals were beneath their feet. Nakatani had been the one to point out to Riko, acerbically, that further incitement to celebrate and make merry would probably result in a riot. Instead at the end of the week there would be the semi-finals, and then the week after that the finals, ready to be broadcast all over the city to some hundred thousand listening ears, ready to make the champions the toast of Republic City and all the world.

("Giving them time to form into factions," said Nakatani gloomily, "so that instead of a riot we have a nice well-defined small war.")

The Monsoons were awash with jobs (Ryou said) this time of year, and Aomine was living large off work that was practically nothing, a few hours of guard work and the really quite astonishing number of people who owed Mako money, who carefully avoided any mention of what had happened to Narook's and pressed little gifts on Aomine Daiki, the talented new pro-bender, the Red Monsoon’s new star. Kazu had taken him behind the wheel of a car for the first time in his life two days ago, and Aomine thought he'd maybe hold out for a black one with red accents, something cool. Tetsu and Satsuki could help him pick, or maybe he’d surprise them with it.

Alone in the attic, Aomine quickly gave up on the idea of cooking lunch for himself and walked over to the restaurant where Ryou part-timed for steady cash because Ryou’d always give Aomine extra, and give it to him free into the bargain, if Aomine just wheedled a little in the right way. The streets were unusually full of people, and the great plaza in front of the Central City Station was choked with stalls setting up for what had been, in the old days, the Fire Days Festival, but now, long after the Hundred Years War, was mostly an excuse to party and let off steam. Here and there Aomine saw bright red uniforms, set up to patrol the streets; people kept going up to them trying to find out when the rest of the Fleet would get in, when the _Victory_ would dock, if it was really true that Commander Akashi had- Aomine stopped listening and moved on.

Satsuki was planning for them to go out on the second night, and maybe the third as well, if they liked it, but she had to work tonight and wouldn’t be free. It did look to be shaping up awesome: Aomine even saw a poster which advertised an open-air performance of _The Boy In The Iceberg_. He spotted the place Ryou worked at- a little dive called _Gaku,_ set back from the main road. There was a guy setting up the frame of a stall outside it, ready to be dragged over the door and used to sell food straight from the kitchen during the festival. He glared at Aomine under his bleached hair, bending metal rods between his bare hands. “Keep moving,” he growled at Aomine, when the waterbender stopped for a closer look.

Aomine ignored this and went in, walking past the mostly empty tables. Ryou was in the kitchen, frowning with concentration as he carefully arranged little carrot flowers on a plate.

“Lunch,” said Aomine, poking his nose over Ryou’s shoulder. He stole a couple of perfect little five-petaled flowers and crunched them up.

Ryou twitched all over. “A-Aomine-san!” he said, reproachfully, but immediately got on to plating something for Aomine, pouring curry over rice. Aomine ate it leaning against the kitchen table, wandering the stoves and picking out stuff he thought looked good while Ryou sighed and fretted.

“You in tonight?” said Aomine, mouth full.

Ryou shushed him so violently Aomine thought he was going to pop a vein. “I can’t,” he whispered. “I have to work here tonight- you know, it’s the busiest night of the festival, I can’t be out and- Aomine-san, please don’t talk about the other job here, it’s not the right place for- it’s just not the place!”

“What are we, stinkweed?” said Aomine.

Ryou gulped. “It’s just that-” he said. “The station isn’t Red Monsoon territory, Aomine-san.” He fidgeted. “If you talk about that kind of stuff here-”

Aomine burped. “Thanks, Ryou,” he said, getting up, and slapping the other waterbender on the back. Ryou wheezed, all the breath driven out of his body, and waved Aomine out, just grateful that Aomine-san wasn’t talking anymore about the _other_ thing Ryou did for money.

The tough guy was still out there, and when Aomine paused to look up and down the street he squared up to Aomine and said, abruptly, “You the idiot who trashed Narook’s?”

Aomine shrugged. “Maybe,” he said, straightening to his full height, which brought them eye-to-eye. “What’s it to you?”

I’ll tell you this for free, since Sakurai’s not a bad kid,” said the guy. “It’s not healthy to be in the Red Monsoons. If Sakurai had any damn sense he’d get out too, before you guys ran into something you _really_ couldn’t handle.”

Aomine beat down his irritation. He couldn’t start a fight on a crowded street, and he couldn’t risk being taken in for Narook’s, either, and Ryou had come up behind them, except that Ryou wouldn’t be any help either, not if he wanted to keep his job.

“Wakamatsu-san!” said Ryou. “Aomine-san is- please don’t fight _here_!”

Aomine rolled his eyes and began to walk off. If he hurried he could get in another nap before he had to turn up at the gym.

“I said I’m _talking_ to you,” snarled Wakamatsu, grabbing for Aomine’s collar and stomping the ground in one smooth movement, scare tactics, throwing Aomine off balance as the earth cracked beneath his feet.

 _Now_ , Aomine was pissed off. He pulled water from the restaurant and shot it straight at Wakamatsu’s stomach, knocking him back and away from Aomine, and followed that with a hit to his chest, slamming the earthbender up against the wall of the restaurant. Wakamatsu gasped as his back hit, trying to summon up another attack.

Ryou was on Aomine in an instant, pulling on his arm, draining away the water, and hissing at him to go, go now, and Aomine, looking around at the shocked faces of bystanders, got going before things got messy.

Behind him, he heard the metal frame of the shop’s stall clang noisily as it dropped to the ground.

.0.

Takao sat in the uncomfortable wooden pews in the council room and tried very hard to stay awake. Because he was with Shin-chan, he’d been let in rather than having to stand outside with the squads who had been detailed to accompany the Commander and his retinue, but now Takao wasn’t sure he wouldn’t rather be out there sweltering in full dress uniform, instead of listening to old people drone on and on about supply chains. There’d been something interesting about pirates off the arctic circle about an hour back, and Takao had sat up to listen when they mentioned his old ship, but that had the only items on the agenda remotely worth listening to, and now it was back to the bureaucratic nonsense. Even the actual council members looked on the verge of nodding off. The Avatar, sitting on the other side of Shin-chan, had given up entirely and was now snoring gently on Midorima’s shoulder. Midorima was sitting bolt upright and kept his eyes fixed on Commander Akashi, but his grip on his hand-carved walrus-frog-tooth pencil-holder was slack and he’d stopped pinching Kise to keep him awake twenty minutes ago. Takao figured they taught the attentive face to diplomats’ children from birth.

“And that concludes my report,” said Commander Akashi. He hadn’t even been using index cards. The man truly was inhuman.

Nakatani was the first to stir. “Thank you for that, Commander,” he said. Swiftly he kicked Aida Kagetora’s chair, who woke with an expression that suggested he’d bitten down on his tongue.

“Yes,” said Araki. “There are several matters we will need to discuss, on which your input will be welcomed, but obviously that will come later, during the conference.”

Akashi bowed slightly. His gaze turned to the dignitaries who had attended his report. He did not appear to see Kise drooling on Midorima’s shoulder, but Kise shuddered all over and jerked awake, elbowing Midorima as he sat up.

Kagetora got up, shaking off sleep. “Everyone, everyone,” he called, “In honour of Commander Akashi’s return and your attendance at our humble conference, as well as to mark the first night of the Fire Days Festival, I am holding a small gathering at my house tonight, which I hope you will all be able to attend.” He winked at the audience. “Open bar, everyone!” A pleased murmur ran through the crowd.

Takao had heard about Aida Kagetora’s ‘small gatherings’. While the little people of Republic City thronged the city streets, the elite would eat, drink and be merry on the palatial Aida estate, mingling shipping magnates with diplomats of every stripe, Earth Kingdom plutocrats with Fire Nation nobility. And now Takao had an invite. Shin-chan’s luck must have been carrying over.

As the meeting broke up and Kise started enthusiastically telling Midorima about his pro-bending team, Akashi beelined for their group, majestically ignoring all the people clamouring for his attention and cutting into their conversation.

Kise managed to stutter out their team’s name before he was steamrollered with Commander Akashi’s total lack of interest in things he considered inconsequential. Takao actually was following the Lion-Dogs; he had tickets for the next match and planned to cheer for the Avatar’s team. He was working on getting Shin-chan to come, if only because once the seventeen-year-old got the stick up his ass dug in permanently, it was never going to come out again.

"You're going to the event tonight at Councilman Aida's estate?" Akashi said.

"Well, said Kise. "Well, we're kind of busy right now and you know what it’s like in Republic City this time of year, I mean the traffic and the-”

"You are going to the party at Aida-san's estate," said Akashi.

"Oh," said Kise. "I guess I am."

.0.

Riko... mingled. When she’d been a child, these gatherings had been intensely boring to her; as an adult, she watched the flow of influence and power and was still intensely bored. The Avatar was standing attentively next to the Air Nomad representative, and next to him stood- Riko couldn’t remember his name, but she knew that he was the guy whom they were expecting to take over as representative, so that Takeuchi could return to just being elder of Air Temple Island. He wasn’t going to have much luck if he couldn’t look people in the eye or stop stammering, as he had with her.

Riko looked for her father. He was deep in conversation with the Water Tribe representative, occasionally slapping Nakatani on the back, which the man endured with stoicism. He had arrived with a frankly strange young man carrying a Blue Spirit mask, but it seemed that that boy had escaped her father and his anecdotes, and was now deep in conversation with the Commander of the United Republic Fleet. Riko fleetingly wished she had someone to talk to, then considered that her two best choices would have been Hyuuga or Kiyoshi- _not_ a date, and quickly reconsidered. You’d think that a party with supposed royalty in attendance would have been more interesting. Riko wished she was out instead, maybe at the festival. From the windows of the estate she could see the glow emanating from the city centre.

Imayoshi wandered up to her and then, seeing her expression, changed course and wandered off. Good. Riko wasn’t in _any_ mood to deal with him and his intimidation, though she wasn’t surprised he’d gotten invited. Rats like him managed to smarm into everything.

Riko emerged from a conversation about the upcoming Future Industries electric car and noticed the young man coming up beside her. He must have shaken the Northern Tribe Waterbender.

“Commander Akashi,” she said. They’d been introduced before, on Riko’s trips to the Fire Nation, but still she felt uncomfortable around Akashi even though they were the same age. He nodded his head to her with exactly the right degree of polite recognition. Commander Akashi would never neglect to greet the daughter of his host. He looked good in his Fleet dress uniform, everything fastened up just right even in the heat of the mansion’s foyer. It was just like him to wear it, too, and because of that, every single subordinate at the party was also sweltering, but no soldier dared to be less formally dressed than their commander.

“Aida-san,” he said. “It’s been a while.”

“It has,” she said, and they exchanged pleasantries. “Is the second fleet back in for long?”

Akashi’s expression changed infinitesimally. “I’ve left my subordinates in place while I’m back on personal business,” he said, and Riko followed the flick of his eyes to Avatar Kise talking animatedly to a guy with classic Fire Nation colouring and whose entire demeanor screamed nobility. Even the creme of Republic City society could not match the breeding in the set of his shoulders. With them was a very tall young man who was not wearing shoes. His clothes, however, were just as expensive and fine as his companion’s, the very height of fashion. Riko had just told her tailor that her measurements hadn’t changed and not to stifle her with ruffles. Kise, in somewhat less expensive clothes, twinkled at her over their shoulders. Commander Akashi had been the Avatar’s firebending master, Riko remembered. There had been jokes about how it was ‘traditional’ and ‘may spirits have mercy on the Avatar’s soul’. She wondered what _he_ thought of his protege becoming a pro-bender.

“Fire Nation business?” she said.

“Regrettably,” he said. Riko sighed internally. That was Commander Akashi all over- nothing got in the way of his job, not even visitors from the royal court of his home country. “I understand the Avatar has taken an interest in your pro-bending venture?” he added.

Riko eyed him over her glass while she took a fortifying sip. Someone who didn’t automatically assume her father was running the pro-bending league? And the question had the ring of interest, not the coolly polite tone he’d adopted all night, or whenever he had to see her. “Yes,” she said. “His team is really doing quite well. The championships are coming up and they’re quite the favourites.”

The _something_ in his face intensified. Distaste? “It seems very frivolous,” he said, “for the Avatar to engage in such matters. I cannot understand what his teammates must be thinking.”

Well, that answered that question. Frivolous, just like her father. They couldn’t all become Fleet Commanders at eighteen, but the chief owner and organiser of Republic City’s biggest pro-bending league prudently kept that thought to herself. “I suppose they’re thinking they’d like to win,” she offered.

“They must be,” said Akashi, with the same faint air of offended cat. He extended his gloved hand to her. “Can I get you another drink, Aida-san?”

“Thank you,” said Riko, accepting the out with relief. “But no, I’ve had enough.”

There was a sudden stir as from the open doors, an officer pressed through the crowd, heading for Imayoshi. It was Momoi Satsuki. Riko liked the younger girl, sort of, but she didn’t know what to think about her and her motley crew, didn’t like to think about the trouble they could bring to her arena.

“Captain Imayoshi,“ panted Momoi. “There’s- I mean, there is a matter that requires your urgent attention.”

All at once, Imayoshi seemed to lose his perennial air of smarm, striding quickly towards her. Like that, he almost did seem like a stalwart servant of the law. “Thank you, Officer Momoi,” he said, and bowed to the room at large. “Please excuse the interruption, ladies and gentlemen. Your tax dollars are always at work.”

A polite titter washed through the crowd as they turned back to their socialising, but Riko was standing close enough to hear Momoi say to Imayoshi, “Sir- it’s the Red Monsoons,” and ice swept up her spine.

.0.

He felt only instinctive, automatic revulsion. The breath caught in Aomine’s lungs, forced there by the rush of blood, the rush of power. He stared horrified at what was happening in front of him, the guards on the warehouse hanging in the air like limp dolls, trying futilely to struggle against Mako’s hold.

But everything was all too clear in the light of the full moon. Mako’s hands moved, and the guard screamed as his arm began, ever so slowly, to twist itself out of its socket. Mako was bending the blood in the guard’s body, and blood-bending was a capital crime.

“Get moving,” Mako ordered. “I want this place cleared out in three minutes. Any longer, and I might as well start killing.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Our [_dramatis personae_](http://half-sleeping.tumblr.com/post/47840125089/sticks-and-stones), in case anyone is losing track.


	6. Chapter 6

_Eighteen months ago_

 

"Alright," said Riko. "Start from the top." She wrapped bandages around the long gash in Hyuuga's arm, glaring impartially around the room. They'd patched themselves up, but badly, avoiding going to a healer which would have immediately raised flags for fighting during the season, and get the Bears noticed by the wrong kind of people. Their ramshackle little team was disliked enough as it was.

They were in Riko's apartment, which was not in anywhere near as nice or as fashionable a part of town as the house she'd grown up in- in fact, Hyuuga thought the whole place could fit into one of the Aida Mansion's bathrooms- but it was hers, a place free from the father who had stamped the Aida name all over Republic City. It had been a while since the last time they’d- alright, just Hyuuga, since Kiyoshi had never even met her- talked to Riko, but she had seen them in the street, limping along, and made up them come up with her, demanding to know what had happened to them. Riko usually got what she wanted. Right now she’d gotten them all to take off their shirts and show her their bruises, built up over four tournament fights. Their actual wounds paled next to this carnage.

It was Hyuuga who finally said, "Kazuya- one of the Reds- He came up to us after practice today and offered us fifty thousand yuan to throw the next tournament match."

"Then what did you tell him?" said Riko.

"I told him for fifty thousand yuan we could just pay the other teams to jump off the platform during the match and if he wanted to waste his money like that he could just shove it up his ass."

"I don't think he liked that," said Izuki. "Or his six other Red Monsoon friends."

"And then what?" said Riko, taking a steaming kettle off Hyuuga’s other hand; he’d heated the water for her, much faster than her stove could.

Hyuuga shrugged a shoulder in the direction of a grinning Kiyoshi. "Twinkle-toes over here curbstomped them."

Riko turned her head and stared at Kiyoshi, whose grin dimmed slightly. Her eyes took in his stats now, where they’d been hidden by his clothes before.

"Say," said Hyuuga conversationally. "Riko, did you know that Kiyoshi is a famous earthbender in the Earth Kingdom known as Iron Heart? And that some people say he's one of the best Earthbenders in the world? Did you know that, Riko? Because _we sure as fuck did not_."

"No," said Riko, "but if he didn't tell you, I'm sure he must have had a good reason for keeping it to himself, and we don't want to intrude on his privacy _now do we_ , Hyuuga-kun."

"I knew," said Izuki, refreezing his ice pack and trading with Kiyoshi. "But he didn't seem to want to talk about it."

"There's nothing to talk about," said Kiyoshi, sounded pained. “You guys are making a big deal over nothing.”

 _Master_ , thought Riko, and knew that Kiyoshi was a world away from Izuki and Hyuuga and Mitobe and Tsuchi, who'd learnt what bending they did know from watching pro-bending matches, from watching free demonstrations by masters keen to attract paying students, every bit of knowledge they could scrape with their bare hands. Riko had visited the Fire Nation and been astonished by the polished students of the great bending schools, disciplined by years of study. Hyuuga had eaten up every word of description she'd written down or could recall from that visit, trying out firebending kata and forms from Riko's faithful memory that he would never have even heard about otherwise, half a world away from Republic City.

Even Riko had heard of Iron Heart: an earthbending prodigy arrayed among the best benders in the world.

"You should report them," said Riko. "I know the police force is useless but they're not _that_ useless. If the Red Monsoons are gathering muscle, they're going to have to do something about it."

"And say what?" said Hyuuga. "Pro-benders are being bribed to fix matches by this large and powerful blood bending gang, here's all the money we didn't get from them for telling them to piss off. That'll go over well."

“You have to do _something_ ,” said Riko, and hesitated. “I thought,” she murmured to Hyuuga. “You said, last year. You didn’t want it any more. You were going to give it up.”

Hyuuga ducked his head, blushing. Riko’s hand tightened on his for a second. “What’s your team? How are you doing in the tournament?” she said.

“We’re the Bears!” said Kiyoshi.

“Just...Bears?” said Riko, after waiting for a moment.

“Just... Bears,” said Hyuuga, and shrugged.

Izuki smiled at Riko from across the room, a little helplessly. It felt like years since they’d all been close like this.

“Semis are a lock,” said Hyuuga. He wondered if Riko had been listening to their matches. “Horse-Flies looking to blow past the Water Weasels and land their way into the finals with us.”

"We beat Koala-Sloths," volunteered Izuki. "Seto was hanging around with them after the match, didn't look too happy."

"I'll bet he didn't look happy," said Hyuuga. "Word is the leader of the Reds lost almost a hundred thousand yuans betting on the Koalas this season."

Kiyoshi whistled.

Riko blinked. “That much?” she said. “They must have thought it was a sure bet.”

“Well, anything’s a sure bet when you send some in-sure-rance beforehand to make sure that the opposing team isn’t going to make it in,” said Izuki. “Kiyoshi took care of them before the match.”

Kiysohi looked abashed. “Aw,” he said. “Was that what those guys were there for? I thought maybe they just didn’t like my face.”

Hyuuga rolled his eyes and said to Riko, “He didn’t tell us. He just turned up to the match like butter wouldn’t melt in his mouth and when we won, Reds sent out some less-useless flunkies to see who beat up their boys. They jumped us leaving practice.”

“They must have recognised Kiyoshi,” said Izuki. “They did try to bribe us first. If yu-want something, you gotta be prepared to ante up the yuans!”

Beat.

“Izuki, jump off the bridge,” said Hyuuga.

“I’m sorry I didn’t say anything,” said Kiyoshi, the very picture of dejected manhood. “But I just really thought they didn’t like me!”

“We don’t like you either,” said Hyuuga, “so I guess that’s a reasonable assumption.” He sighed. “Anyway, if the Reds are gunning for us they must have had a vested interest in having the Koalas place. Horses have Imayoshi for their earth- Gaku's Triple Threat territory, but he hustles there half the time. I’ll bet it was supposed to be the Triple Threats vs the Red Monsoons, and our wins are messing up their plans.” He subsided against a bright couch as Riko handed him some seeped willow tea. He _was_ upset, Riko noted. Usually Hyuuga didn’t like talking about these things in front of her, as though she was the prissy daddy’s girl the press liked to make her out to be.

Izuki left, since his family lived close by. Hyuuga and Kiyoshi, with all of Dragonflats to trudge through until they got home, stayed at Riko’s insistence. Full moon was dangerous to be out with waterbenders on the prowl.

“No buts,” said Riko. “I’ll make you guys some supper, and then you can tell me- fully this time- all about how you got mixed up in this. You said you’d never pro-bend again.”

Hyuuga immediately choked on his tea. “That’s not- you don’t have to- we can go back ourselves and-”

Riko fixed him with a stare. "With mobs of vicious gangsters hunting your tail?" she said.  

“We can’t stay overnight in your place,” said Hyuuga. “Your dad will go crazy.”

“You two can toss over the couch,” she said. “You know where the extra linens are.”

.0.

The Pro-Bending Arena, giant and golden, sat on the edge of the waterfront like a girl gone past her prime. Once, it had been the only and greatest Arena in the world; now, as other leagues had sprung up in the Earth Kingdom and the Fire Nation, spectators sometimes preferred to save their money on the tickets and stay home to listen to match broadcasts. And the reputation of Pro-Bending had gotten a little more... tarnished, since Avatar Korra’s time. The Arena had never quite recovered from the Equalist terrorist attack.

Everyone knew that old Takeda, though nominal owner of the Arena, was being edged out by the gangs. They charged exorbitant fees to hold matches that were little more than gladiatorial combat, charged even more exorbitant fees for the tickets, and all the while the benders kept at it only because trying to win the lottery was more depressing. At sixteen, Hyuuga and Izuki had tried to make their start as the Cat-Voles; now at eighteen Hyuuga and Izuki had managed to scrape up the dough for one last fight, and scraped up Mitobe for their Earthbender, Koganei for their cheering squad, and Tsuchida for their manager. This was it. This was their last shot. They’d dreamed of being able to make it big as benders, to become great benders, to become great _as_ benders.

“No,” said Hyuuga.

Izuki turned to him, surprised. “Hyuuga-”

“I can’t,” said Hyuuga. “I can’t- Izuki, that’s your savings. Mitobe, you have a family to feed. _We_ can’t afford this. We shouldn’t-” he hesitated. “We shouldn’t do this after all.”

Hyuuga looked down at his feet to contain the words trying to spill out of his throat. He could feel Izuki, Koga and Mitobe exchanging looks over his head. It was time to put away childish dreams; they couldn’t work at Mitobe’s family’s paper forever, they couldn’t justify all that time taken out of their lives for a chance that would crash at the first qualifier. He’d told his boss that he was going to go in for the tournament again and the guy had shaken his head and told him he was a waste of a good employee. Thirty thousand yuans. A fortune.

“Hyuuga-” Izuki started to say, but then Flower-Cats poured out of the Arena and, sniggering, surrounded them.

“Yo,” said one of them, a sneery little earthbender who’d just been kicked from the Snail-Ducks- figured that only the Flower-Cats would take a petty thug like him. And he had a slow right cross.

“We couldn’t help but overhear,” said Kazuya. “You know, Jun, you’re probably right not to try it again this year. You’re really not cut out for it.” Narumi, the firebender kid Kazuya had picked up this season- Hyuuga didn’t know any other team that practically had to regrow itself every year- said nothing, but cracked his fists.

Hyuuga glared at them. His lip curled. Fucking lowlifes.

“That’s really none of your fucking business,” said Hyuuga. “Keep walking.”

Kazuya walked forward instead. They ended up standing back-to-back while Koga held onto their moneybag and Mitobe tensed up. The Flower-Cats stalked around them in response, forming a larger, loose circle. Koga squeaked.

“Well,” said Kazuya. He spread his hands. “We just paid in a _lot_ to get our slots... but if you don’t want to go for it, you don’t have anything to do with that money, right? Wanna hand it over? Sounds like a win-win to me.”

“Fucking _try it_ ,” Hyuuga spat.

Kazuya sighed, turning his back on them. “Jun, Jun,” he said. “Always wanting to make things difficult.” He turned again, floating a ball of water between his hands. “You _sure_ you don’t want to just hand over that money? Or are we going to have to show you just how much of a good thing it is you’re not going to be in the tournament anyway?”

Hyuuga answered with fire. Narumi had been moving out of the corner of his eye, and struck now at Mitobe, intercepted by Izuki pulling water from the street. Izuki, not used to street brawling, didn’t carry his own water like Kazuya had. Kazuya, whip-quick, dodged Hyuuga’s fire ball, throwing ice-shards at Hyuuga’s face. One slit his cheek uncomfortably close to his eye, and several peppered his clothing, thrown at too-close proximity to slice through. Hyuuga growled and went for Kazuya’s smug face.

Mitobe tore chunks from the road and used them to send Narumi away from Izuki, but Koga, unable to bend, yelled and ducked as Narumi’s flashy but weak fire gout went wild. The other team’s earthbender flung a slab right at him. Mitobe flung himself backwards, crashing Koga out of the way out of the attack, taking it right on the shoulder.

Mitobe dropped to his knees, face white. “MITOBE!” yelled Koga, distracting Izuki and Hyuuga both. Kazuya got Hyuuga then, again, pummeling him with waterboxing one-two in the stomach, jumping back quickly from Hyuuga’s kick trailing fire behind it. Hyuuga over-balanced and went to his knees, gasping for breath. He had to get up- Izuki couldn’t handle Narumi without a water source, and Kazuya was going for the easier prey-

Suddenly, the ground shook, throwing them all off balance. Someone very definitely not them yelled “OFFICER! OVER HERE! OFFICER!” which was dumb because no one ever alerted the police to street brawls, why would they? What the hell could the cops do besides turn everything into a massive fuckup? But a frantic whistle sounded, and the Flower-Cats cursed and ran off before whistles could become sirens and one policeman turned into the full metalbending corps, ready to dispense police brutality.

The person who had shouted reached them first, and then after him the officer, her gloved hand sparking and crackling. It took them a long time to convince the policewoman that _they_ weren’t the criminals, _they_ hadn’t stolen this massive amount of money, and when the policewoman left them, she was shaking her head over the youth of today, wasting good money on nothing but pure hooliganism.

Hyuuga made a rude gesture at her back.

Mitobe and Koga and Izuki, with better manners, turned to thank their helper. He was enormously tall, listening to the goings-on with a raised eyebrow. He had to have been new around here- no true Republic citizen would have bothered interfering in a fight. At best, it was amusing street theatre. At worst it was best to clear out before you were taken out of there in a body bag. His hazel eyes hinted at Earth Kingdom origins.

“Kiyoshi Teppei,” said the stranger cheerily. “Earthbender.”

They introduced themselves and, in a spirit of mutual exhaustion, gratitude and hunger, took Kiyoshi with them when they went off to eat.

"We'll register tomorrow," said Izuki, when they thought that Hyuuga had been lulled into docility by rice wine and chicken-frog skewers.

“Mitobe’s hurt now,” pointed out Hyuuga. “He can’t bend, and we need three people.” He flushed. “You. You need three people.”

Mitobe indicated he might not be in tip-top shape, but he was certainly not incapable of fighting.

“That’s right!” said Koga. “Though, Mitobe, you might want to take it easy for a while until we can get you to the free clinic.”

“He’s not going to be well in time to fight in the qualifiers,” said Hyuuga. “They’re in two days.”

“Alright then,” said Kiyoshi, who’d been appraised of their plight through dinner. “I’ll be your substitute earthbender.” He beamed at Mitobe. “Just until he gets better.”

Mitobe agreed.

“What a great idea!” said Izuki. It didn’t hurt that Kiyoshi had thought Izuki’s ‘Stick up for your sticks’ joke was hilarious. “But do you have anything else to do?”

“Absolutely nothing!” said Kiyoshi, smiling at them. “I’ve got absolutely nothing. And I’d be glad to do it, though I may not be very good at it.”

Mitobe thought this solved all their problems.

“No it doesn’t what if he’s _not good_?” demanded Hyuuga.

He couldn’t be worse than a guy with a busted shoulder, indicated Mitobe.

“Exactly!” said Koga. “So this guy can be a substitute earthbender, and now you can totally go through with the registration. Right now. Before Hyuuga can change his mind again.”

“I’m not _changing my mind_ ,” sputtered Hyuuga. “We barely know this guy, and you just want us to go into a team with him?”

“Yes,” said Izuki. “I think we’d do well with him.”

.0.

And then Hyuuga put down his cup and said, “Fucking hell, Izuki _knew_.”

“Knew what?” said Kiyoshi, still manfully struggling with his curry.

“He knew it was you!” said Hyuuga. “You’re the one who broke up the fight. That cop wasn’t a bender.”

Riko rolled her eyes.

“I _thought_ he was a little too eager to add you to the team,” said Hyuuga. “He knew you were strong from the start.”

Kiyoshi stuffed his mouth full of more curry and looked innocent and bewildered, which fooled Hyuuga and Riko both exactly _none_.

“Well that was fascinating,” said Riko. She looked at Hyuuga, still gulping down tea like air. “You’re not going to drop out,” she said.

“Like fuck we are,” said Hyuuga. “We’ll just watch our backs a little more now that we know they’re gunning for us, that’s all. We’re not giving up for those fuckers _now_.”

Even as he said this- and Riko turned away with that small secret smile on her face, and Kiyoshi beamed at him through heavy sweat- Hyuuga felt an unmistakable qualm. The Red Monsoons hadn’t sent errand boys to come get them this time.Sakurai Ryou had grown up two floors up from Hyuuga and he was a _good_ bender, objectively a better waterbender than Izuki. Fourteen and already a bruiser for the Red Monsoons. Hyuuga hoped his mother was proud.

Riko checked Kiyoshi again for a concussion, shining a little torch into his eyes. It was good to see Riko again, even if things had been awkward after- well. But Hyuuga couldn’t stand Kiyoshi. He had lied to them after turning up out of nowhere and practically forcing his way into their pro-bending team, and he wore that dumb look on his face constantly and he sometimes went around telling people he had been raised by badger-moles.

(“Grandma really found them helpful in digging up her garden,” Kiyoshi said to Riko. “We had amazing vegetables back there. I really miss them!”)

But Hyuuga couldn’t get rid of him now. He just wouldn’t go.

In the small hours of the morning, before the sun had properly risen, Hyuuga was up already and chivvying Kiyoshi out with him, eager to get back to their home sweet hovel before Hyuuga had to go into work.

“Watch yourselves,” said Riko. She leaned against the lamppost outside her house and sipped the tea that Hyuuga had made in apology for inflicting Kiyoshi on her in the early hours. “Don’t let Hyuuga overthink himself, Teppei.”

“We promise,” said Kiyoshi sweetly. Hyuuga glared at Kiyoshi, then offered Riko his exhausted, appreciative smile.

Riko waved them off, then turned to go back inside after checking her mail.

A hand closed on her mouth. Riko immediately threw back her elbow, but the hand didn’t move, and as she struggled- and tried to scream, tried to open her mouth enough to bite the hand away, this couldn’t happen, how was it happening _here_ , it was early morning and surely someone would see, if she could only scream-

 _Something_ happened, a dizzying rush of blood and panic and darkness, a vise closing on her throat and lungs. Riko passed out.

. 0.

“Bears,” said Imayoshi, waylaying them on their way to the docks. “Heard y’all been looking for me?”

The Red Monsoons had gone to ground after taking Riko, abandoning all their usual hangouts, and it was slipping past evening into night. When the moon rose, the Reds would be twice, thrice as dangerous. They didn’t have _time_. Hyuuga slammed the earthbender up against the wall before Imayoshi could blink, could move. He was considerably heavier than he should have been. Imayoshi was in deep with the Triple Threats, Imayoshi captained the Horse-Flies, Imayoshi acted all pally with high-ranking members of the Red Monsoons.

Red Monsoons had left their mark on Riko’s open door, the spray-painted scarlet wave. Hyuuga had seen that mark more than once, growing up in Dragonflats. It meant that they wanted you to be afraid someone was gone.

“Bears,” said Imayoshi. To do him credit, he never lost that notorious slow drawl. “Ain’t this a pleasure.”

Hyuuga breathed in. He needed to phrase this just right. Imayoshi was a canny bastard and Hyuuga had no doubt the earthbender would find some way to turn this situation to his advantage. He had to tread carefully.

“Who took Aida Riko, you scum-sucking smirking bastard, _who took he_ r?"

“Don’t you want Hanamiya fer that?” said Imayoshi after an instant of icy-cold calculation, and then for some reason he looked up at the slowly rising moon, round and full for the second day.

No. Hyuuga knew the reason. They’d attacked the Bears last night because the waterbenders could be assured of being at full strength while the moon was full, and they’d still be strong now, under that merciless white glare. "Did you help him," said Hyuuga, and he was so angry he thought he'd burst with it, the fire crawling under his skin, boiling, and his hand in Imayoshi’s stupid damn swishy black coat collar started to scorch the cloth. "Did you help him take her?"

"Ah didn't," said Imayoshi. “Spirits witness, ah didn't. I didn't even know anyone was planning anything of the sort. I swear by the swamp tree."

"Yesterday, today," said Hyuuga. "He was up to something. He didn't take her without help. He had to hole up somewhere. Someone talked. Someone always talks.”

“When was she taken?” said Imayoshi, as though the matter was of purely intellectual interest. “Have any of y’all told anyone else about this?”

“No-” said Izuki, trying to pull Hyuuga back. “Hyuuga, we should do that! We should tell the-”

“We can’t tell the police, he’ll hurt her,” said Hyuuga, shrugging off his hand. “That’s how they work, that’s how these things _always_ work.”

“You’d know,” said Imayoshi snidely. Hyuuga buried his flaming fist next to Imayoshi’s ear. Imayoshi’s eyes slit against the heat of it, but he didn’t flinch.

“What do you want, Imayoshi?” said Izuki.

“Ah’ve got something you might be interested in,” said Imayoshi. “Sakurai Ryou. Nice kid. Works at Gaku as a dishwasher.”

“He’s a Red,” said Hyuuga automatically. “You know where he is?”

“Better,” said Imayoshi. “Since it ain’t exactly moral to let a kid take a fistful of fire to the face. He doesn’t know anythin’ about the Aida girl, but he did cough up to me where the Reds have been headquartering for the last two moons.”

“Why should we trust you?” said Izuki. “What’s in it for you to tell us this?”

Imayoshi looked at them. And then he said, “Ah’m a cop.”

“ _Bullshit_ ,” said Hyuuga.

“Ah’m an undercover metalbender investigating the illegal activity that goes on in collusion with ta pro-bending tournament,” said Imayoshi. “Ya know these things have always gone hand-in-hand with the gangs. I just made it further in the tournament than anyone expected, tha’s all.”

“You’d be a better bender if you were a cop,” said Izuki.

Imayoshi sighed. “Ah’d be a shit-poor undercover agent, then,” he pointed out. He pulled back his sleeve, showing them the distinctive mechanism used by the metalbending cops to fire and winch back flexible metal cables that were weapon, defense and transportation for Republic City’s elite.

"Okay," said Kiyoshi, and put his hand on Hyuuga's shoulder. Wincing, he snatched it back. Hyuuga was hot to the touch. "Hyuuga, he must be telling the truth.”

“You’re a _cop_ ,” said Hyuuga, infusing the word with oceans of loathing.

“Guilty,” said Imayoshi, letting the sleeve fall back down. “Or naht guilty, as the case may be. They thought what with me being not from around here, Ah'd fit in better."

"You?" said Hyuuga, still stuck on this one point. "And you’ve just been letting all this happen, huh? The bribes and the match-fixing?"

"Tha's right," said Imayoshi. "They're taking jus about anyone these days. It's downright shameful."

"Why do you care so much that we’re going after the Red Monsoons?” said Kiyoshi.

"Ah hail out of Foggy Swamp," said Imayoshi, his accent suddenly much slower and thicker. "So does Hanamiya Makoto. We're cousins, somewhere up that line. But Mako doesn't trust me the way family should. Shame, ain't it?"

"No one would fucking trust you," said Hyuuga with conviction. "No wonder you got picked for that job. You look dirtier than he does."

"Look, what's it going ta take to convince ya," said Imayoshi. "A signed affidavit from the Avatar himself? Ah don’t know where he took Aida. Sakurai was ta only lead I could get. But Mako’s not- safe. He’s higher up in the Reds than he lets on. He was probably behind ta attempts on y’all, and if they did something like take Aida Riko he’s got his hands in it somewhere."

“We have to get her back,” said Hyuuga. “Look, cop or not, what did Sakurai say? Where are the Reds now?”

“Sewers,” said Imayoshi. “The Red Monsoons like sewers.”

.0.

Kiyoshi closed his eyes. Opened them. And then he stomped.

Riko woke with a jerk. Around her the ground quivered, like trucks the size of battleships were pounding by. She couldn’t see anything, and her mouth was dry and her arms were tied behind her back. She could hear shouting and cursing, water splashing as feet pounded through them in all directions. She tasted blood, and as she moved her lip she felt the dried blood crack. She must have had a nosebleed at some point.

Her head _hurt_. She could feel thin cloth beneath her covering what she assumed to be rock, still shaking, and as she reached out with her legs, carefully, she encountered walls, a corner. She was lying in the corner on something made of cloth somewhere near pools of water, and the earth was coming apart.

.0.

“What’s wrong with you _fucking morons_ ,” said Hanamiya, staring around the circle of waterbenders, all the up and comers of the Red Monsoons, the ones who had maybe five brains between the eight of them. “You didn’t think to check who she was first? You’ve screwed up bad now. Councilman Kagetora would set fire to all of Dragonflats District for his daughter, and you brought her to _HQ_? I thought I told you to grab Iron Heart.”

“Look, we reported back about the girl, they said grab the girl. We grabbed the girl. But now we’re being raided and everything’s going to go to shit. We can’t keep her on knockout drops forever and we can’t survive being burned out of here.”

“Yeah?” said Hanamiya, grinding his teeth. He could guess who had circumvented his orders. “Then maybe it’s time for some damn leadership around here.”

He didn’t have to ask if they were with him. They always were.

.0.

“I really, really hate you right now,” said Hyuuga to Kiyoshi. “Riko?”

“She’s in there,” said Kiyoshi, opening his eyes. “I felt her heartbeat. She’s okay, I think. A little scared. No one’s with her.”

“Mmm,” said Imayoshi, whom they hadn’t been able to stop from following them. “Ah _do_ hate you. How far down? How many people in there?”

“Not that far,” said Kiyoshi. “A lot of people are underground but- they’re not all Reds, I think. They just live there. They have mud houses. There are kids. Riko’s further down than they are.”

“The squatters. Ah’m calling it in,” said Imayoshi, reaching back inside his clothes. Kiyoshi reached out and, without turning, caught his elbow and held it.

“You’re not calling anything in until we have Riko,” said Hyuuga. “I’m going in.”

“You’re crazy,” said Imayoshi. “Hyuuga, yer going to get killed.”

“We’re going in with him,” said Izuki. Kiyoshi nodded.

“Ah stand corrected,” said Imayoshi. “Yer all going to get killed.”

The Bears went in before Imayoshi could delay them any further, following Kiyoshi through identical tunnels and down damp ladders, the underground expanse of the infrastructure that drained Republic City. They passed knots of people trying to get out of there before the earthquake hit again, and none of them had time to explain to them that it was Kiyoshi, just Kiyoshi, if you could use that to explain away an earthquake in human form.

The first Red Monsoon flunkies were quickly dispatched, Izuki and Kiyoshi securing them to the walls with ice and mud mixed inexorably together. Izuki stayed to mop them up while Kiyoshi and Hyuuga ran ahead, intent on Riko. The gangsters cursed the Bears, but Kiyoshi didn’t speak, straining desperately to keep the image of Riko’s position in his head, and Hyuuga kept up only by familiarity, by experience, moving as the team they had become. He lit Kiyoshi’s way with gouts of fire.

Their second meeting was full of familiar faces: the Red Monsoon waterbenders who had tried to take the Bears down last night, and at their head, Hanamiya Makoto, who bared his teeth at them while they stood ankle-deep in sewer water.

“Hyuuga,” said Kiyoshi. “It’s full moon.” He locked eyes with Hyuuga. “Get Riko first. I’ll hold him.”

Hyuuga hesitated, a bare moment, looking at Kiyoshi standing there-

“ _GO_ ,” roared Kiyoshi, sinking into his stance.

Hyuuga went. Two waterbenders made to snap water whips after his unprotected back, but they smashed on the wall Kiyoshi raised after him, keeping any of the waterbenders from following Hyuuga.

“You’re a fool, Iron Heart,” called one of them. “It’s full moon.”

“We’re underground,” responded Kiyoshi, a quiet statement just on the edge of threat, and began. Stone that had lain cut and shaped and dry for centuries groaned. Their metal bones screamed, forced to snap. The small orange emergency lights along the walls flickered madly and abruptly went out, plunging them into darkness.

.0.

When the lights ran out Hyuuga cursed and flared a flame out into the circle of his fingers, keeping it low and steady, breathing in and out until he could at least use it to see where he was going, though this was down a long curving tunnel anyway, no way to turn right or left. The water around his ankles continued to splash and lap and quiver, in response not to waterbending but to the shocks of earthbending. Unlike Kiyoshi, however, these did not tear at the sewer walls, and they held steady.

He gritted his teeth and started going again, splashing noisily forward. He had to find Riko and get her out of there before-

“You!” he heard a voice. “Are you a firebender? I- help, please help me-”

“Riko!” he cried, surging towards that voice.

“Hyuuga,” she said, then “ _Ahh_ the light.”

Hyuuga immediately covered the flame with his other hand, moving towards Riko slumped against the sewer wall, retching, though there was nothing more to come up. Her hands were still bound behind her back, and Hyuuga burned through them, pulling them off, pulling her against him in relief.

“It’s alright,” she said. Her arms went around him. “Just let me get used to- I don’t know what they used to knock me out. It made me sick, so I was using the wall to get out- they’ve cleared out of there, whatever it was. Then the lights went out, so I kept following the wall. Hyuuga, what happened?”

“Iron Heart happened,” said Hyuuga. “Come on, I left him fighting a whole group of them up the tunnel, and I think the cops are on their way. Who knows what he’s doing by now.”

Riko sagged against him gratefully. “So hard on Teppei,” she murmured.

“Because he’s an idiot who tries to do everything by himself,” said Hyuuga.

Riko laughed, a watery little half-cough, and rested her head on his shoulder.

Hyuuga couldn’t believe he’d let this happen to her. They walked up the tunnel, back to the Red Monsoons, to where he’d left Kiyoshi.

Where they had left Kiyoshi, his knee shattered, his face a white ruin of pain and half the tunnel caved in and carved out by bending. The cops were beginning to pour into the sewers by then, too late to do anything.

And that had been it, really. They'd ended their probending career there and then, and Hanamiya had vanished into the sewers, with the cream of the Red Monsoons. Kiyoshi's leg was shattered so badly the best healers in Republic City couldn’t fully mend the damage.

Riko hadn’t seen anyone, and probably couldn’t have identified them if she had. Without warrants, and because Imayoshi hadn’t waited, the cops lost the chance to take them out root and branch, and wasted over a year of undercover work. Instead, in the intervening months a new Red Monsoons arose, shorn of deadwood and with young men at its helm, a vital and dangerous force in the Republic City underground. It was going to be impossible to put in new people for a bit, too, Imayoshi told them, resignedly. The gangs would be on high alert, having taken advantage of the crackdown to install new leadership and reshuffle their ranks.

Imayoshi managed to come out of this smelling like roses, Aida Kagetora kicking him a nice big promotion for rescuing his precious baby girl, the new council golden boy. Riko wasn’t _ever_ going to forgive him for that, or, when she confronted him with his knowledge that the gangs had been closing in on the Bears, for his flat statement that taking Hanamiya Makoto down would have been worth crushing the dreams of a two-bit pro-bending team.

The pro-bending tournament had been cancelled abruptly while the police swarmed over it. There were rumors that Takeda was giving it up entirely, that all the money that was supposed to be in the pot was gone and everyone involved in it was under the cloud of suspicion that resulted in the brutal gang crackdown.

Izuki and Mitobe and Hyuuga had come out without any injuries more terrible than fractures, and Riko was largely unharmed, but Kiyoshi was the one they were worried about, when they dragged him back to the surface, and when Kiyoshi heard the healer's verdict- that he would need at least a year to heal before bending again, that he might never be as strong again, that he might never heal fully- Riko caught him in her arms, all the massive strength of him, and felt him shudder into her shoulder as she stroked his hair.

“Sorry, Hyuuga,” Kiyoshi said, when they left him. “Sorry.”

.0.

Riko had ponied up for Kiyoshi to stay under observation for as long as it was physically possible to tie him to the bed, and when they finally kicked Kiyoshi out of there the ex-Bears and entourage sprang for a cab to carry to Kiyoshi back. They got out, however, not at Hyuuga’s place, but at the Arena. They had one of the office rooms set up for a mini-party, with food and drinks. Koganei and Izuki went to help Mitobe bring out some more food, while Riko and Hyuuga fussed over settling Kiyoshi into a chair.

“What’re we doing here?” said Kiyoshi, taking a drink and looking around curiously. Riko and Hyuuga looked at each other. She took a deep breath.

“I bought out Old Man Takeda,” said Riko. “I talked it over with Hyuuga-kun and the guys- we’re going to set up a new league. A better league. Keep pro-bending going in the city. Keep it clean for once.”

Kiyoshi gaped. “You can’t-” he said. “Riko, it’s still dangerous, they didn’t catch Hanamiya, they-”

"I thought you were the one," said Hyuuga, looking out the window, looking out over Republic City, "You were the one, who said we shouldn't give up on our dreams."

After the party (and the tears, which everyone pretended not to see and were wept freely into the punch bowl), Hyuuga started trundling Kiyoshi back home in a wheelbarrow before he thought to say, “Riko, I’ll walk you back after this.”

“No need,” said Riko. “I don’t live there anymore. I think they’re glad to see the back of me- Dad’s been Dad, you know, and they still haven’t scraped the gang sign off. Makes them nervous.”

“What do you mean,” said Hyuuga, dumping Kiyoshi into the bed and ignoring his laughing protests that he was perfectly fine with lumpy carpet, “you don’t live there anymore? You love that apartment.”

"I sold it," said Riko. "We needed the seed money. I guess I’ll move back in with my dad, if I have to."

“You could stay with us,” Kiyoshi called.

“What, in here?” said Riko, and she meant for it to come out crushing but instead it came out considering, and she looked around with a new light.

“Wait,” said Hyuuga, sticking his head in from the closet he called his bedroom. “Wait, what?”


	7. Chapter 7

Kagami tasted lightning. He bit down on the ozone taste, trying to clear his head after another exhausting shift at the power plant. Pro-bending training on top of this every day took a lot out of him, but generating lightning took no mental energy, something Kagami was grateful for. In the hustle of Republic City and the chaos of sharing a small space with four other people and a dog, Kagami used his time at the power plant to be alone with his lack of thoughts.

Bending lightning made Kagami remember being taught his first katas by his brother. The crown prince's bending, every flawlessly executed classic stance, was so perfect it was beautiful. The lightning would look cold, blazing blue against the older boy’s expressionless face, but his brother’s hands would be firm when they settled on Kagami’s limbs to correct his form, and his smile warm.

That had been a long time ago.

Kagami turned down an alley towards the market. This would be a good time to get the yams Kuroko liked- he'd make a lot, so that tomorrow, they could laze around and eat it. They were going to be exhausted again after tonight. Kagami browsed the market stalls. The good produce had been bought up for the conference, but there would be better pickings further in.

Kagami suddenly became aware that people were hurrying past him. Not running or anything- they were just changing their paths to walk in a wide circle, quickening their steps.

Kagami glanced at the origin. He didn’t want trouble, he’d just-

Aomine flew out of a side-street and hit the ground, skidding. He was bleeding from his mouth and nose, and dusty all over, in the same clothes he’d left home in last night. He tried to get up but collapsed to a sitting position, unable to stand on his legs and only capable of supporting himself on one arm. His right arm hung awkwardly, held stiffly out from his body. Three waterbenders followed. Each held their own little bubble of water at the ready, but Aomine had been _kicked_ forward- by a bleached-blonde who swaggered towards the downed waterbender and used his foot to turn Aomine over onto his back. He knelt down and said something to Aomine. Kagami couldn’t hear it from where he was standing.

Aomine spat blood in his face.

The waterbender just grinned and pulled some water from his friends. The blood dripped off his face and mixed into the ribbon of water, giving it a pinkish sheen as it was formed into long, wicked icicles aimed right for Aomine’s face.

Kagami charged.

.0.

Fire bloomed from above. Aomine had just been staring at the slowly sharpening spike of ice, but it collapsed into slush as the firebender- Kagami, thank the spirits, _Kagami_ \- blasted Kazu and the other Reds back into the alley.

Civilians took cover.

“You an Agni?” barked Hara, an idiot. “Fuck off, this isn’t your territory.”

“I’m with him,” said Kagami, backing slowly towards Aomine, ready to strike. “Back the fuck away, and no one gets hurt.” He looked down at Aomine, struggling to stand up. “Or maybe I hurt you anyway.”

Hara stared at Kagami. Kagami glared back, tensing.

Hara struck, a long rope heading straight for Kagami’s knee. Kagami countered with a sweeping kick, and flicked punches at Kazu on the other side, keeping him away from Aomine.

Aomine could see Kazu’s brain ticking. Kagami wasn’t very bright, he’d fall headlong into a dirty trick if Aomine couldn’t help him. He couldn’t take on three at once, and Aomine couldn’t get up without feeling like his chest was about to cave in, could barely move his arm. Hanamiya had gotten him, and gotten him good.

Kagami was breathing hard, too soon into the fight. He wouldn’t be recovered from bending lightning; Aomine dimly recalled that Kagami did his shifts in the early morning, and slept long into the day after them.

Kazu moved in, with Seto and Hara backing him up. Kagami ignited his arms up to the elbow to deflect three water whips and then got suckerpunched by the fourth, catching him on the knee, the thigh, the hip. Kagami went down on one leg even as Aomine tried to pull their water away from the Reds and only succeeded in pulling away Kazu’s attention for a second. Seto was forming ice between his fists, the trademark Red Monsoon blood-water-

And lost control, doubling up with a cry.

Aomine grabbed that water before it could hit the ground, spurting it to hit Hara and Kazu in the face, blinding them. Seto temporarily out of commission, Tetsu dove past him to hit Kazu with quick strikes, numbing his elbow and shoulder, hooking his foot around Hara’s knee and bringing him to the ground in one swift movement.

“Fucking _chi-blocker_ ,” yelled Seto, but Kagami was up again, and he punched Seto in the face- once, twice, trailing fire.

Kazu fell back, his arm useless from Tetsu’s attack. Tetsu backed up towards Kagami and stepped on Hara as he went, driving the breath out of Hara’s lungs. Tetsu settled into a stance- mostly a bluff. He wouldn’t be able to do as much without the element of surprise, but they didn’t know that.

Seto was bleeding, and Aomine watched him sizing up his odds; one firebender, a chi-blocker who’d come out of nowhere, fucking Aomine Daiki, that last the most useless. Aomine knew from experience that Seto’s bending wasn’t going to be back in that arm for hours, and they’d been out in the open too long already; the Red Monsoons hated the daylight. “Let’s get out of here,” Seto ordered. “Move, now!”

Kazu dragged up Hara upright with his good arm, and they made their escape. It wasn’t over- they knew where Aomine lived, fucking hell, they knew where _Kagami_ _and Tetsu_ lived- but Aomine couldn’t think about that right now.

“No fucking stomach for a fair fight,” Aomine tried to say, but his mouth wouldn’t form the words. Tetsu was on one side of him, and Kagami was lifting him, wincing against his weight. Aomine tried to push off Kagami, to tell Tetsu to take the firebender instead, apologize for-

“Stop that,” said Kagami, pulling Aomine to him, careful around his dislocated arm. “We’re getting you home.”

.0.

Only pain kept Aomine awake as they forced him up the ladder to the attic. Nigou greeted them enthusiastically, but dropped his ears and whined at their grim response. Kise was still out, and Momoi had left a note saying she would meet Tetsu-kun in the stands after her shift.

“It’s for the best,” said Tetsu. “Kagami-kun, put him down here. Let’s do something about his arm.”

Aomine screamed, a small short hoarse sound that barely fought its way free of his throat. Tetsu gritted his teeth, but kept on pushing at Aomine’s shoulder. “Kagami-kun, hold him steady,” he said, trying to re-locate Aomine’s joint. Kagami held Aomine down through the _pop_ , and Aomine’s sounds of pain.

“You are such a _fucking idiot_ ,” said Kagami, watching Tetsu feeling along Aomine’s shoulder to make sure it had popped all the way back into place. “How did you get like this? Who the hell were those guys?”

Aomine waved a hand. “I’ll be up in two hours, tops,” he said, slurring only a little. His head felt so _heavy_. “I- _ahhh,_ Tetsu!- I messed with some of the wrong people and they caught me off-guard, okay? It won’t happen again.

“Again?” said Tetsu. “Aomine-kun, what did happen?”

Aomine’s head was still pounding. He still had hours until the match, and they were up against the Sloths. Seto’d be there, and Seto had the brains to take advantage of- of- fuuuuuck. He put his head to the wall and fell sideways, easing his body downwards. He was so tired. The moon had taken his strength with him when she went down, but he’d had to keep going- and he couldn’t have risked them surprising Tetsu or Kagami, Kise or Satsuki…

Nigou crawled into his lap. Tetsu- or Kagami- got the pillows and the blanket from the beds, too high for Aomine to even think of climbing, and put it under his head. Soft, it was so soft…

Aomine fell asleep.

.0.

Takao was waiting for Midorima when the waterbender emerged from his bath. (Midorima did miss the natural hot springs of the Fire Nation, most specifically the extensive and luxurious royal bathing complex, but good luck trying to get him to admit it.) It had been a long night at the hospital for him, but when Midorima returned to his room, evaporating water out of his hair in an absent fashion, he groped for his clothes and found- orange? He squinted, running it through his pruney fingers. Cotton? This wasn’t his fur coat. These weren’t his clothes.

“What is this?” he said, turning to the brown blur he presumed was Takao. (It was the wardrobe.)

“Your Fire Days Festival presents,” said Takao. Midorima quickly changed the direction of his glare. “Get changed, we’re going out.”

“Out where?” said Midorima. He tried to find his glasses, but they weren’t in their proper place on his table.

Takao stepped up and untied Shin-chan’s robe in one smooth motion, yanking the belt away. Midorima clutched at the garment before it could fall open and snarled, “What are you- give me my clothes!”

“We’re going out and you’re going to dress like you’re in Republic City for once,” said Takao. He considered Midorima standing blind and affronted and began to yank at the robe’s sleeves. “I think you’d look great in orange, don’t you?”

Midorima yelped. “I can dress myself!” he snapped. “Get- go away!”

Takao stopped. The falling collar of the robe revealed dark ink swirls dipping down Shin-chan’s back. “You don’t get your glasses back until you come out wearing them,” he warned. “And no coat! It’s going to be way too hot for that.”

“You’re an unprincipled thief,” said Midorima. He located undergarments- at least these were his own, as he’d set them out before before he left. He let the robe fall. Takao grinned: he’d won. “Get out. Leave my glasses.”

“Ha! Nice try.”

.0.

Commander Akashi leveled a stare at Kise. Kise knew that look. It meant 'you are basically replaceable, in ten to fifteen years'. It would probably give him great joy to start over with a Waterbender. Doubtless Commander Akashi had already thought of several ways to streamline the process of determining a new Avatar, and thoroughly considered the benefits of starting the incarnation of earthly enlightenment on his or her training at a much younger age.

Kise pasted a smile on his face. It had never worked on his master during his training, but there was no harm in trying.

Akashi continued with his lecture. “Ryouta, the time has come for your involvement in the Northern Air Temple-”

Darkness fell.

The sun was briefly blotted out, and accompanying it, Kise heard a crash of crockery and a small short scream from downstairs.

Akashi turned his head towards the window of his office facing out onto the street and blinked.

Kise was ready for it the second time, and as enormous sheets of earth shot upwards to cover all the windows for an instant, he traced the earthbender standing just outside the building, one foot's heel struck sharply into the stone pavement. The earth fell back into the surrounding plots of gardens whence they came, not disturbing a leaf. Superb control, undeniable strength, a twisted sense of humor, and a complete disregard for anyone else.

Akashi took four steps to the window and opened it.

Murasakibara Atsushi waved. Kise, coming up to stand beside Akashi and find out what had happened, waved back.

Akashi heaved a sigh. A white-lipped aide knocked at the door. "Murasakibara Atsushi insists that you be disturbed, and that he cannot wait," the aide said.

"Yes," said Akashi, still looking out the window. His mouth thinned at the sight of the dark-haired man standing next to Murasakibarachi, gold glinting around his throat. Murasakibara's friend was smiling up at Kise, and Kise waved. “Show him up. I’ll be with him shortly.”

Kise turned to Akashi. He seized the opportunity as he saw it flash open. "Akashichi, I have to go too," he said. "I have meetings at the Air Temple, and we have the tournament. Elder Takeuchi is waiting on me."

"...You're dismissed," Akashi said to Kise. "Obtain victory in your… tournament. After that, we will get down to serious matters. It is time and past you stopped dodging your responsibilities. The North has waited long enough for you to grow up.”

Kise bowed. He thought maybe Akashi was more concerned with who he'd left in the north to hold the fort while the Commander returned to Republic City than Kise’s _responsibilities_ , but didn't say it, not actually all that excited to contemplate a new incarnation as a waterbender. "Akashichi, of course I'm going to win," he said.

"See that you do," said Akashi, who did not stay to watch Kise launch himself from the window.

.0.

“Shin-chan, you’re pretty excited,” said Takao.

“I’m not,” said Midorima, struggling to balance his rock candy fluff with his salted yak butter popcorn and an armful of hastily thrown-together Lion-dogs memorabilia being hawked by vendors outside the Arena. “These could come in handy as potential lucky items.”

“You made us come out way too early, Shin-chan,” said Takao.

“I thought you said that seating was on a first-come basis,” said Midorima. “You know I detest lateness.”

“That’s your fifth popcorn,” said Takao. He played with Midorima’s cube.

“I’m hungry,” said Midorima primly.

Takao laughed and let it go. He was free from stuffy meetings for a night- Midorima often attended voluntarily, citing an interest in current affairs- and the evening was looking good. Lion-Dogs were the high favourites for tonight’s match, and even Shin-chan was excited, complaining much less than usual.

“Woah,” he said. “Shin-chan, celebrity sighting! That’s gotta be the Lion-Dog’s firebender, coming out of the Arena.”

“Being a professional brawler hardly qualifies one to be a- _Taiga_?”

Takao looked at Midorima curiously. “No, that’s Kagami,” said Takao. “Shin-chan, haven’t you read _any_ sports news? The broadcasts? At all?”

Midorima straightened to his full height, craning his head. “That’s impossible- what is he doing-” he muttered, presumably not to Takao. “TAIGA!” he bellowed, and the redhead turned. The pro-bender was almost as tall as Midorima, and he towered over the average residents of Republic City, easy to recognize, even though the Lion-Dogs, Kise excepted, didn’t make a habit of appearing in photographs. There wasn’t much of a crowd yet this early in the evening, not too noisy, so everyone heard Shin-chan shouting- and so did Kagami, turning his head towards them in shock. Kagami froze, mouth dropping as he stared at Shin-chan.

“Yue, what is he _doing here_ ,” said Midorima, and started striding towards him.

“Shin-chan, you just swore!” said Takao, hurrying after Midorima. Woah, what was this? Love at first sight? Mysterious childhood friend? Midorima was all worked up, and Kagami had a really funny look on his face as he stared at the waterbender, somewhere between surprise and terror and- relief?

“Shin!” Kagami burst out. He lunged forward to grab one of Shin-chan’s arms. “What the hell are you- no, no time, just come with me. Come now!” He began to pull Midorima towards the Arena.

Midorima sputtered, too shocked to resist. “What are you- Taiga! Where are you taking me? What are you doing here?”

“Someone’s hurt,” said Kagami. “Someone’s- he’s really bad, Shin. You have to come and see him.”

They were almost through the doors to the Arena: Takao didn’t think they even noticed he was following them. He tagged along anyway, because now his curiosity was burning.

Kagami led them to the attic and up the ladder, into a large room which bore clear, if sparse, signs of habitation. Takao blinked. He hadn’t thought anyone would live above the Arena. Someone- dark-skinned, and rather familiar- was lying on the floor, sleeping, and another man was kneeling next to him, watching them with surprise.

“That’s him,” Kagami was saying. “Aomine. He was being beaten pretty bad by some waterbenders, earlier-”

Midorima pushed past him and froze. He rounded on Kagami. “This- this _gangster_ is who you brought me to see? Taiga, you’ve always kept low company, but this is ridiculous even for you! This man and his companions attacked me during an extortion just a few weeks ago!”

“What?” said Kagami. “But you have to help him!”

Midorima barrelled on, furious. A dog- their famous mascot- started barking at him. “You! You disappear from the court, you take nothing with you, you desert your rightful position, and I find you _here_ , living in squalor with a dangerous and violent gangster, _brawling_ for money? Where have you been for two years? What are you doing here?”

“...Midorima-kun?” said the newest guy, staring upwards.

Midorima jumped, having obviously not noticed him. The dog was barking and barking, even though Kagami had his arms around it and was trying to calm it down. Through all this, Aomine didn’t even twitch.

“...Kuroko?” said Midorima.

“Midorima-kun,” said Kuroko, whoever _he_ was. This was better than radio dramas. Takao backed himself into a corner to watch. “Midorima-kun, Aomine-kun has been attacked by bloodbenders. He is very seriously injured. You must treat him immediately. We didn’t know it was this serious, he’s been like this since the morning. We are lucky that Kagami-kun found you. He needs your help.”

Midorima’s gaze traveled between Kuroko and Kagami, and finally settled on Aomine, who looked like hell. He set his mouth, but knelt down next to the patient and drew the bandages off his fingers. “You two had better have a good explanation planned for all this,” he said, and pulled back the blanket covering Aomine. His shirt was open, and the bruising was… interesting. Takao winced just looking at it. “How do you even know each other- no, tell me later. I’ll need my full concentration for this. Kagami, get me water, lots of it. Kuroko, somewhere in this… circus must be a first-aid kit or medical supplies of some kind. Get them for me, everything you can find. Takao!”

“Yes!” said Takao, stepping up and saluting smartly.

“My lucky item, and help Taiga with the water.”

“Right,” said Takao. He set it down on the table, within reach of Shin-chan.

“When the hell did you get here,” said Kagami goggling at him.

“I was with Midorima down there,” Takao told him. “I followed you two up here, because I am his bodyguard and it is my job to make sure people don’t punch him in the face.”

“Oh,” said Kagami. “-really, a bodyguard?”

“Well,” said Takao. “Diplomatic assistant. Make sure they don’t punch him in the face… after he pisses them off.”

“Yeah, that sounds right,” said Kagami.

“How do you two know each other?” said Takao. “And, er, your friend looks in pretty bad shape, we should probably get Shin-chan his water.”

“This way,” said Kagami. Kuroko had already left, and Midorima was frowning as he examined Aomine’s body, intent in a way that reassured Takao, and obviously Kagami. “I know him- I mean- we’ve know each other a long- this way for water, it doesn’t pipe up this far.”

.0.

“Why don’t you all just die right off?” Mako suggested. No one dared look him in the eye. He was icing his shoulder, no thanks to a lucky shot Aomine had landed last night in the mad scramble of his escape. “You’ve been getting free looks at his fighting style for the past month and even then it takes you hours to track him down and he still fucking gets away?”

They cringed.

“Doesn’t matter,” said Seto. He looked calm, but they could all tell he was seething just as bad as Mako was. He slowly clenched and unclenched his fingers, working off the chi-blocking. “After what we did to him, he isn’t going to be any shape to stand, let alone fight tonight. They can forfeit, lose, whatever. Aomine Daiki ain’t playing for the Lion-Dogs tonight.” He grimaced, exposing the hard and ugly set of his mouth. “I want a piece of that firebender, too. Sun isn’t going to be rising tonight. He’s Lion-Dogs as well, should be feeling his injuries.”

“Oh. Oh!” Hara waved something that glinted gold in the flickering light. “He was wearing this,” he said. “Clipped it off him during the fighting, though he’s probably noticed it’s gone by now. Worth something?” He tossed it at their boss.

Mako let it fall, rather than reach out with his injured shoulder. Hara laughed nervously as Mako contemplated killing him then and there. “Finish your business tonight,” he ordered Seto. “The Arena will be crawling with morons and rent-a-cops tonight, but he’s got nowhere else to go in the city. We’ll get him after tonight- and his little firebender, too.”

The golden flame of the Fire Nation gleamed red and orange at Mako’s feet.

.0.

“I can’t believe I let you talk me into this,” said Midorima. Scowling, he tried to adjust his glasses and only got the Lion-Dog’s smoked glass faceplate.

“You fit into the uniform, Midorimachi,” said Kise. “It was fate.”

“If I kill you, I will very gladly train your replacement,” said Midorima. He clutched his cube in one hand and the rulebook Kuroko had handed him in the other.

“Please!” said Kise, wincing faintly. “I know you’re tired from healing Aominechi, but for me!”

“You’re an idiot,” said Midorima. “I would be fine if I wasn’t here in all this infernal noise and this infernal get-up.”

“It’s okay, Midorimachi,” said Kise. “Kagamichi and I are really good, we’ll make sure you won’t get hurt out there.”

Midorima cast him a look of utter loathing. Kise sparkled.

Kagami stared across the playing field at their opponents, the Koala-Sloths. Seto, just as ice-eyed, gave him a little wave. “That’s him,” he said. “That’s one of the fuckers who-”

“He was with Aomine at Narook’s that day,” said Midorima. Seto looked, registered that their waterbender wasn’t Aomine and smirked. If that fucker somehow managed to break his neck falling into the drink tonight, Kagami wasn’t about to shed any sweat over it. Midorima returned to rereading the rule book for the fifth time. “It seems your criminal friend had his criminal friends turn on him.”

“Shi- Midorima!” snapped Kagami.

“Don’t blame me for the company you keep,” said Midorima. “He’ll be fine, though you should have gotten him to a- to me, sooner. Not many people can treat bloodbending injuries.” Midorima had healed Kagami as well, and then Kise had swept through the windows and reminded them all there was a match on tonight.

Thinking of Aomine, Kise looked worried. He had had a nasty shock when he arrived back in the attic. Bloodbending was a capital offense, something the Avatar had to deal with. And someone who could do that to _Aomine_ … Kagami didn’t like it either. The guys he’d fought today wouldn’t have been any match for Aomine if someone else- the bloodbender- hadn’t gotten to him first.

Kagami looked Midorima over. “You really up to this?” he said.

“I’ll do it,” said Midorima, and the way he arched his neck was pure Shin, all that arrogance and grace. “Have you forgotten who you’re speaking to, Taiga?”

Kagami snorted and the tension went out of his shoulders, abruptly. “You haven’t changed,” he said.

“Why would I?” said Midorima. “How do you get yourself into these things?”

“Midorimachi, I love you,” said Kise, batting his eyes at the waterbender.

“ _Shut up_.”

“It’s time,” said Kagami. The crowd, despite their heart-rending disappointment at being robbed of Aomine Daiki, roared as the platform extended to the playing field. Seto’s teammates looked like tough cases, too, and they swaggered to the platform to their own cheers.

“Wait, then hit hard and fast,” said Kagami. “Kise, that waterbender got hit today on his right arm, he won’t be as responsive on that side for a while. Kuroko chi-blocked him. Don’t give them any time to get a bearing on Shin’s style.”

Kise and Midorima exchanged looks, Kise’s wide-eyed, and Midorima’s resigned. Lightning was sparking in Kagami’s eyes, icy cold.

They took up their positions. Seto was frowning at Midorima, and Kagami saw the shock in his eyes as he placed the waterbender who had fought Aomine weeks ago, and fought him to a standstill.

True to their namesakes, the Sloths fought a slow game, waiting to size up their opponents. Kagami was similarly- if uncharacteristically- cautious, neither side losing or gaining a zone as they traded blows. The first round ended in a loss for the Lion-Dogs when Midorima, dodging earth discs, landed in the second zone. The crowd booed him enthusiastically.

Right as the bell for the second round went, the Sloths went for Kagami. Kagami rolled and spat back small flames, ending up at the far end of the second zone trying to keep his footing. Unprotected, Midorima and Kise were driven back one zone, two. Kagami blocked fire with fire and took Seto’s strike to the same knee where he’d been hit earlier.

Kagami snarled.

Kise went down off a mistimed dodge, but while the Sloths- and the refs- were watching that, Kagami blasted Seto and the earthbender to the edge of the platform, vicious blasts which lasted longer than either had braced themselves for. Midorima saw his chance and hit the earthbender, right between the eyes, a beautifully precise strike- sending him toppling into the ropes and Seto off the edge of the platform, hitting the water to a cheer.

After that, it was over very, very fast.

.0.

Hanamiya was waiting for Seto when he emerged, dripping, from the water.

“Relax,’ he said, when Seto stiffened. His hair had come loose from his dunking, and it made him look like a drowned rat. “Aida and that moron are caught up in managing her precious ring, and that other moron doesn’t leave her side for long enough to come down here. Get out of that monkey suit, we’re moving.”

“The match-” said Seto, still knocking water out his ears.

“Forget the match,” said Hanamiya. Something had put him back into a great mood, his eyes gleaming and his brain racing behind them, both black as tar. Further behind him, Seto saw more Reds, everyone Hanamiya could possibly have laid his hands on in short notice, even Sakurai trembling as the spectators continued to roar. The staff who usually stood here in wait were out cold on the floor. Behind him and above, Seto heard that fucking annoying announcer scream that the Sloths were on the third zone and falling back. Fuck them. He couldn’t get back up in time to save them from their dunking.

Hanamiya smirked as Seto pulled off his helmet and let it drop. The guys were going to be pissed, but so what? “I have something else much, much better planned.”

.0.

Kise hurried back up to the attic after the match by the simple expedient of stepping outside and airbending himself up to the open windows. Kurokochi and Momochi would be there, watching over Aominechi, and that friend of Midorimachi’s, who’d volunteered his services as well.

Nigou’s barks didn’t greet Kise as he entered the darkened room. Kise called a small flame to his palm, sighing in relief as it illuminated Momoi sitting by Aomine, both her fans in her lap.

“Ki-chan,” she said. “Did you win?”

“Of course we did,” he said, dropping to his knees next to her. ‘Second-round knockout. That guy who hurt Aominechi never even had a chance to get back into the ring.” She put her finger to her lips. Takao and Kuroko appeared to have gone to sleep, despite the noise from the arena. She turned the lamp up, enough for Kise to see her by.

“He’s better, I think,” she said, touching Aomine’s hand. “If Tetsu-kun hadn’t recognized the bruise patterns as blood-bending… or if Midorima-kun hadn’t been there...”

“Midorimachi is a really good healer,” said Kise. “He said Aominechi would be fine.”

Momoi smiled. “I’m very grateful,” she said, but her eyes were still worried. “It’s barely full moon, Ki-chan. How could this have happened to him?”

Nigou began to bark at the ladder.

Kise tensed and Momoi opened her fan just a little, hissing, “Tetsu-kun!”

Kuroko woke quickly, reaching for his own weapons.

“It’s me!” said Kiyoshi. “It’s- Nigou, let me up, you know me.” The lion-dog whuffed suspiciously.

“Kiyoshi-san,” said Kuroko. Kise walked over to give the earthbender a hand up, checking to see there was no one else following him which might have set Nigou off.

“Are Kagami and that other guy here?” asked Kiyoshi, looking around the attic.

“No, Kagamichi’s taking a long time,” said Kise.

“About that,” said Kiyoshi. He looked grave. “The medics said someone had ambushed them,” he explained. “So I went to check it out. But on the way…” he handed them Kagami’s Lion-Dogs helmet, and in it, Midorima’s lucky item. The glass faceplate was cracked. “What do you know about the Red Monsoons?” Kiyoshi said.

Takao had picked up the cube, looking at it. “Shin-chan’s family is pretty well off,” he remarked. His voice was a little distant. “He got on the wrong side of the Monsoons before- with that guy,” he shrugged at Aomine. “It’s be worth something to grab him, if just for revenge.”

“I think,” said Kuroko slowly, “it was not… necessarily Midorima-kun they were after.” He turned Kagami’s helmet over, and Kagami’s golden flame pendant fell out into his palm. It had been smeared with blood.

“Your firebender?” said Takao. “He’s-?”

“Prince Kagami of the Fire Nation,” said Kuroko.

“Kagamin!” said Momoi, taking the pendant from Kuroko. She stared at it, stricken.

“Fire Nation?” said Takao, and shaped his lips into a long low whistle he did not voice. “That’s… not good.”

“We need to… call someone of authority…?” said Kise, hopefully. “If they took them both-”

“No,” said Kuroko. There was a short sharp sound as he checked the knives at his waist. “Kiyoshi-san, perhaps that is a question that we should better pose to you. What do _you_ know, about the Red Monsoons?”


	8. Chapter 8

_“Kiyoshi-san, thank you for your information. You and Riko-san have been very kind to us. But your part in this is over now. I am going to take this to the police.”_

_“But Kagamichi and Midorimachi-”_

_“I know. I know! But we won’t solve anything by just rushing in, even if we go right now! They’re very dangerous! They did that to Dai-chan! We can’t do this by ourselves!”_

_“Momoi-san, I agree that the police should be alerted. I propose we split up and while you inform the police, Kise-kun and I will scout-”_

_“No!”_

Aomine woke to the sound of Tetsu and Satsuki arguing, in low voices filled with steel. He hurt all over, but it was almost a relief to hurt- not the numb darkness he had been dreaming of, but the kind of soreness that mean his flesh was knitting itself back together.

For a moment he thought he was home again, in Kiyoshi Island with the world steady under his feet, thought he was on a boat, with the waves raging around them. Waking was like rising from the ocean, slowly under the pressure of his own body, to the air.

“Water,” he rasped. “Want- water.”

Kise climbed onto the platform to help Aomine drink. The cup was passed to him by a guy Aomine had never seen before. The janitor Kiyoshi was sitting at their table, petting a despondent Nigou. Kise was still in his match gear, and it was night outside.

“What happened… the match?” said Aomine, once he’d cleared his head a little. Tetsu and Satsuki were armed, and metal flashed in the lamplight from under their clothes, her armguards and his bracers.

“We won!” said Kise, trying to be cheerful.

Someone was missing.

“We got someone to sub in for you, er, the lieutenant here says you might know him...”

The guy Aomine didn’t know snorted. “Sure he does,” he said. He stepped up to the platform to examine Aomine. He produced a little gadget from nowhere and shone a light into Aomine’s eyes.

Aomine closed them in protest and thought very hard about getting up and punching his stupid face out. Who was missing?

“No immediately apparent brain damage,” said the asshole. “That’s one thing, at least.”

“That’s good,” said Kiyoshi, encouragingly.

“Dai-chan,” said Satsuki. “Dai-chan, you were just healed, you should try to stay-”

“Where’s Kagami?” said Aomine. He opened his eyes again. All three uniforms were missing from the hooks on the wall. The firebender was nowhere in the attic, and there wasn’t a lot of space for him not to be. “Where is he?”

Tetsu explained, briefly. Aomine was swearing by the end of it, in short sharp bursts before he ran out of breath, and he tried to get up.

“Dai-chan!” snapped Satsuki. Kise shifted his weight and stopped Aomine from moving. Even he looked surprised by how easy it was.

“Aomine-kun, that is not a good idea,” said Tetsu, in his calm voice. “Midorima-kun has rearranged your _chi_ flow to repair the bloodbending damage. Your bending will not have recovered, and you are still very physically weak. You were very badly injured. It is thanks to him that you are still alive.”

“And he was taken too?” Aomine demanded. “I can’t- let me up, idiot. I have to-”

“Wheeze at them?” suggested Asshole. “I agree with Invisible Dude here, by the way. Someone should probably go tell the police, and do it sooner rather than later, and it can’t hurt to try to at least scout out where Shin-chan and the Prince are. We should get moving. Waterbenders don’t like to waste moonlight.”

“I can’t let Tetsu-kun and Ki-chan put themselves into-” started Satsuki.

“That is why I volunteer to be the one to inform the police,” said Asshole. “I don’t think you can stop them, and I don’t think they can stop you, so you two might as well give in to each other. Who knows what could be happening to them? We should go now.”

“Dai-chan will try to leave,” said Satsuki, but Aomine could see she was persuaded, thinking of the terrible things that could have happened to Kagamin. That would be it, then; they would never be able to convince her that it wasn’t worth having her in danger to get someone else out of it. Aomine never had; that was why she’d become a Kiyoshi Warrior, that was why she’d joined the police force now.

“I will come back here after I have informed the police and if he has made it further than the ladder down there, I will put him back in bed.” Asshole looked at Aomine speculatively, ignoring the glare Aomine was directing at him. “Maybe on the floor with a blanket, he’s a big boy.”

Tetsu seemed to accept this; he turned to Aomine and said, “Aomine-kun, is there anything else you can tell us?”

“I don’t know anything,” said Aomine. It came out of him like a sigh. “Last- last night was the first time I knew Mako was a bloodbender-”

“Mako?” said Kiyoshi. “Hanamiya Makoto?”

“He did this to me,” said Aomine. “The rest of them-” he waved his hand dismissively. “But Mako is _good_ at what he does.”

“I suggest we come to a decision soon, if Hanamiya Makoto is involved,” said Kiyoshi. “He’s very dangerous. I had no idea he had returned to Republic City. Kagami and that other guy’s life are in danger.” He paused. “Hanamiya Makoto will stop at nothing to get what he wants. He meant to kill Aomine, I’m sure of it.”

“Really, wow,” muttered Aomine.

Satsuki had paled. “Hanamiya,” she breathed. “He’s back in Republic City? And he has Kagamin!”

Tetsu had set his jaw, and he nodded at Asshole. “It is as you say, Takao-kun. We are indebted to you, and to Midorima-kun. Kiyoshi-san- you said you might have some idea where they are?”

They left, despite Aomine and Nigou’s protests.

“This is pathetic,” said Aomine to Nigou. The lion-dog meered, and circled the table.

Aomine grimly pulled off the blanket Kise had carefully tucked around him and levered himself off the platform. Somehow the arm Tetsu had wrenched back into place didn’t hurt at all, but everywhere else did, radiating from his hips out. He had just made it to the floor- lying there panting with pain as Nigou licked his face and whined- when Takao (or as Aomine would forever mentally call him, Asshole) came back up into the attic.

“Wow,” said Takao. “All the way to the table. You are tough.”

“That was… fast,” said Aomine, staring at him.

“I went downstairs and rung them from the Arena telephone,” said Takao. “Gave them my name and rank, gave them as much information as I possibly knew, and came back up here.” He cast a sly glance over his shoulder at the ladder. “You country hicks, never think of using the ‘phone. Shin-chan’s the same way.”

“There’s a telephone in the Arena?” said Aomine blankly.

“That’s what I’m saying,” said Takao. “Nice, isn’t this? We’re all alone together.” He studied Aomine and his grey eyes were very cold.

Aomine’s mind ticked slowly through the logic. “Oh,” he said. “You stayed here to interrogate me. I know you, don’t I? I don’t know where they could have gone.”

“Shame,” said Takao. He knelt next to Aomine and produced that tiny flashlight again, shining it in his face. “I was at Narook’s when you threw down with Shin-chan,” he said. “Wearing my uniform, if that jogs anything loose.”

“Fuck you,” said Aomine, blinking spots out of his vision. “Wait, that guy? _That guy_?”

“Yeah, long story,” said Takao. “You’re better than you were, but you’re still in no state to go out, let alone fight.” The matter-of-fact way in which he said this irritated Aomine.

“I’m going,” said Aomine stubbornly. “I don’t know where they are, but at least I can try to find out. I know a few guys.”

“Somehow I guessed this,” said Takao. He flashed a grin. “I have exactly the thing! It’s parked around the block, you just need to get there without passing out again.”

“You have a car?” said Aomine, perking up.

“Not even close,” said Takao.

.0.

The young master’s arrival in Republic City had incited a flood of gossip in the Jade Dragon Teahouse outlets, but rumors of a corporate shakedown were unfounded. All that Murasakibara Atsushi did was install himself in a private room and decree that takeout from all over the city was to be brought to him and then he ate through every single dessert on the Teahouse’s menu. Twice.

At least the friend he had brought with him from the Earth Kingdoms was good-looking.

“No, thank you, I couldn’t possibly eat another bite,” said Himuro to the blushing waitress.

Atsushi refrained from rolling his eyes and surveyed the remains of their supper. They’d retired to the private room to listen to the pro-bending match for some reason he couldn’t fathom- as though barely-trained benders playing some kind of stupid game that didn’t make any sense was interesting at all.

But Muro-chin had listened as though riveted, and then after the Lion-Dogs’s victory, smiled and turned the radio off. Now he hummed to himself as he ate some honey toast.

Atsushi wondered why Kise-chin thought that that sport was so fun. It sounded really stupid, and it lasted barely any time. Probably any one could play it.

‘What did you talk with Commander Akashi about?” said Himuro, dusting crumbs off pale fingers.

Atsushi looked up from his tea, eyes narrow. “Stuff about the North. Carried some messages. Do you know him?”

“We met several times at court,” said Himuro.

“...oh yeah,” said Atsushi, remembering. He eyed the older boy. “You don’t like him?”

“I barely know him,” said Himuro, rueful. “I know of him- we were at court a lot around the same time- but we’re barely acquaintances. You met him when the fleet was deployed in the Northern Earth Kingdom?”

Atsushi eyed him. “We hosted the officers after putting down some unrest in outlying villages,” he said. “Before you came, Muro-chin.”

“That sounds fun,” said Himuro, telegraphing without shame his complete lack of interest in officers, villages, or unrest. “Entertaining. Your family’s hospitality is unparalleled, Atsushi.”

“I thought you ran away to the circus to get away from that sort of thing,” said Atsushi.

Himuro looked disappointed. “That wasn’t a circus, Atsushi,” he said. “It was a travelling show.”

“What’s the difference?” said Atsushi.

“Less animals,” said Himuro. “More hustling. Very few acrobatics.”

“Anyway you ran away,” said Atsushi, returning to the heart of the matter.

“Of course,” said Himuro. He had been carrying around a back issue of the Republic City Times, and now he looked at it, folded so that the picture of Kise-chin’s pro-bending team was prominent, propped between two empty bamboo steamers and upturned tea cups like a poster. “I’m glad to be coming back, though,” he said, thoughtfully. “So many things I’ve left behind.”

.0.

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me,” croaked Aomine. Nigou jumped into the back of a bicycle-pulled cart joyfully, clearing the sides with ease.

“Why would anyone live _in an attic_ ,” moaned Takao, dumping Aomine into the cart. “Why are you so big? Agg, I felt my spine cracking.”

“What the hell is this?” demanded Aomine, once he had his breath back. His jaw ached from biting down on agony- and it felt like whatever that guy had done to his _chi_ was burning its way through his system, setting his bones on fire. At this rate, his teeth would be permanently ground down to stumps.

“It’s a cart,” said Takao, propping himself up on one of its sides to stretch out his back. “I taxi Shin-chan around in it.”

“Why?” said Aomine.   
  
“Because this, believe it or not, was the more dignified option,” said Takao, getting on the bicycle. “Thank your spirits. I couldn’t have hauled you another block.”

Aomine gave him directions to Gaku and sat back. “Why are you doing this?” he said. “What happened to the police?”

“Mmph,” said Takao. “You guys are new here, right? Two months, three?”

“Two.”

“A year ago the Red Monsoons kidnapped Councilman Aida’s beloved only daughter,” said Takao. “It was big news in the fleet. They initiated a gang crackdown, a whole line of big dogs went down, justice triumphs. But look. One year later, Reds are shaking down a place like Narook’s in broad daylight? I’m not betting Shin-chan’s life on something that smells this bad.”

.0.

Mako replaced the receiver on the radio and headed down the hall. Everyone was on alert, watching the two benders even though they were both chained and gagged. Other Reds, and the people who didn’t want to piss off the Reds, were patrolling the area or had gotten clear. Last year’s crackdown had been brutal.

“The ship should be here before morning,” said Mako. “We’re finally making this place too hot to hold us. How’s the merchandise?”

“Awake, angry,” said Seto. “You sure you want to take that rich boy along?”

“He’s not just any rich boy,” said Mako. The look in his eyes was both ugly and incredible, blazing like when he had fought Kiyoshi Teppei. “His family would be good for a pretty big ransom. Or he’s about the same size as the prince, we can always char his body and tell them someone lost their heads. Gives us an ace in the hole.”

A growl emanated from the Prince. His eyes were hot and angry, glaring at the waterbenders with ashy death. He tried to draw in breath, but gasped as his collar cinched in tighter, choking him. Mako smirked.

“You can thank your brother’s little trick for that,” said Mako. “No breath of fire for you, _your highness_. Sit quietly and maybe you won’t be a vegetable by the end of your little trip.”

The Prince panted heavily, but his friend kicked him and glared through cracked glasses. The Prince subsided, evening out his breathing and biding his time. Too stupid to know when he was beaten.

“Where are we going?” said Hara. Mako hadn’t said anything to them about his exit plan, only that there was one. The rest of the Reds who weren’t guarding the prince had been told to get out and lay low once the merchandise was on the move.

“Wherever the fuck you want to,” said Mako. “Stay here and be extradited to the Fire Nation to be burned alive for high treason, I don’t give a shit. But I’m taking the Prince to Shou, he’ll appreciate the gift.” He surveyed the two bound benders with satisfaction.

.0.

Takao had eaten at some pretty shitty restaurants without shame in his time, but Gaku took the cake. It was deserted and barely-lit, the kind of place that tottered between torched for the insurance money and valuable ecological niche, like a shrimproach.

“Here,” said Aomine. It was testament to Shin-chan’s skill that Aomine was on his feet at all, but it had clearly cost him to come along. Takao tried to feel sorry that he’d let the kid come out despite knowing that he wasn’t up to it, but failed. He felt Shin-chan’s cube in his pocket, an awkward weight. “Ryou runs the early-hours shift here, he might know something. He said he does guard-work, and he’s been in with them a lot longer than I have.”

“Here’s a question,” said Takao. “If he’s so in with the bloodbenders, wouldn’t he be, you know, in with them? How do you know _he’s_ not a bloodbender?”

“ _Ryou_?” said Aomine, as though the mere idea was ridiculous. “He was left out of the- that time I found out. He’s too nervy. If he knows anything, it won’t take much to make him tell us. He’s not-” Aomine said, and hesitated on it. “He doesn’t like being in the Reds. He wants to be better than that.”

Takao refrained from commenting. He palmed his knife and tried to remember his chi-blocking training. He should have paid more attention in basic, but who’d ever thought he’d be in this situation? Aomine headed straight for the kitchen and surprised the lone employee, who screamed and begged for them not to hurt him.

This was the third of the waterbenders who’d been there that day, a nervous kid with muddy brown eyes and hair. His eyes widened to see them, fastening on Aomine.

“A-Aomine-san!” he said. “You- you’re hurt!”

Takao rolled his eyes. Genius, this one. He took a quick look around as Aomine explained their situation to the kid in pithy terms and the kid gasped, obviously shocked and appalled.

“So that’s how it is,” Aomine said. He propped himself up on the counter, and the kid came in close to him, concerned. “Ryou, you said you did guard-work for Mako before. Do you know where they could have been taken?”

“Ye-yes,” Ryou said. “I do know a place! I’ll take you there.” His voice shook, and so did his hands, twisting in his apron as he took it off. He bit his lip. “T-there’s a way into the sewers just behind the restaurant. Th-this way.”

He led them through a few alleys, obligingly lending Aomine his shoulder. Takao followed with Nigou, wincing when Ryou levered a manhole open with a crowbar hidden in debris.

“These aren’t Red Monsoon tunnels p-proper,” explained Ryou. “But we’ve been using these since we were kids.”

“Aren’t these supposed to be off-limits?” said Takao. “They’re sealed up.”

“It’s ea-easy to get in,” said Ryou. “Especially near the waterfront. S-some people still live in them.”

It took the both of them to get Aomine down, and when they had, they stared up at Nigou standing at the lip of the manhole, barking and hissing in equal measure.

“Sorry, boy,” said Takao, shrugging. He produced his flashlight again. Enough room to walk, but barely, and it didn’t make things any better that they could see what they were walking in.

Aomine’s mouth twisted. “Kagami,” he said to the lion-dog, tiny, and indomitable. “Finding Kagami, ok? Wait for us.”

“I t-think it’s this way,” said Ryou. Leaving Nigou there, crying out after them, they proceeded into darkness.

They were silent as they walked. Takao tried to keep track of where they were going; north-by-northeast? Ryou had to help Aomine down a ladder more than once and finally just offered him a shoulder. They seemed to keep going _down_ , past tunnels that opened into dark caverns and always, all around them, the sound of rushing water and settling stone. Finally they heard voices, and saw lights flickering ahead on the walls. Rou went perfectly still, and looked frantically at the two of them.

“Hara-san!” he said. “He’s coming here!” He looked horrified. “We can’t hide!”

Takao saw Aomine take deep breaths and settle himself into a stance, pushing himself off Ryou. More waterbenders, then. Well, no time like the present. Takao tucked the flashlight away and waited for his night vision to return. The voices grew louder, there’d be just one chance to surprise-

Aomine produced a choked gasp, and collapsed into the water.

“Aomine-san,” whispered Ryou frantically. “Aomine-san, I’m- I’m sorry!”

Takao splashed forward to see what was wrong, but no- Aomine had crumpled around Ryou’s fist, and now people were coming around the corner to see what the noise was and Ryou was straightening up, and before Takao could reach them Ryou yelled, “H-help! I have Aomine Daiki! He came to rescue the prince!”

The water came alive around him. Takao cursed and ran.

.0.

The _Victory_ lay at anchor in pride of place just outside Yue Bay, an enormous hulking frigate dressed in the ostentatious fleet colours, manned by just a skeleton crew while the commander was on shore attending conferences. _Doppelganger_ slipped past on the tide, disguised by darkness and hastily-applied coats of paint. Several of the crew spat into the water at the sight of the _Victory_. The captain eyed her dark windows and thought that Mako better be sure he had his hands on something big, big enough to risk drawing the wrath of the Fleet at this remove. The ship looked almost entirely unchanged from when he had last seen her a year ago, the headquarters of the Fleet soldiers sent to put down violent rebel action in the territories of the Northern Earth Kingdom. _Beast_ was too big and too recognizable to enter Republic City waters, but _Doppelganger_ , like any true smuggler, had no problems entering Yue Bay unchallenged.

Getting out was going to be difficult, but the thought of the look on that fucking Commander’s face when he learned that they’d stolen a royal hostage out from under his nose drove them on. The fog was rising, and their ship headed into it without fear.

.0.

Aomine was woken, again, by the sound of Satsuki’s voice.

They were in a cove looking out into a secluded corner of Yue Bay. A dock had been constructed here long ago, made of old and rotting wood. Republic City’s famous fog was lurking on the water. Lanterns at the edge of the dock, blue and white, indicated they were expecting visitors from sea.

Hanamiya Makoto stood over Kagami and Midorima’s bound bodies, waiting. He held them both down with bloodbending, but was conserving his strength. Aomine was tied to a post with only rope, but their manacles had cruel teeth that bit further into their flesh every time they moved. Next to him was Kiyoshi, unconscious and also bound. Seto was watching them. If Kiyoshi was here- then-

Satsuki’s voice had echoed down the tunnel, approaching them. Her arms were held behind her back by Ryou, who held an ice-shard to her throat like he was holding a scorpion on the end of a stick. Other Reds followed with Tetsu and Kise. Tetsu had an ice-knife held to his throat as well, and lines of red showed where it had been pressed into the skin. Kise was bound and gagged like Kagami was, and being dragged, since he could barely walk.

Hanamiya looked irritated. “What’s with those two?” he said.

“We brought them to keep the Avatar quiet,” Kazu reported. He used the ice-knife to poke at Tetsu. “He gets all pale at the sight of this one’s blood.” He grinned. “This is the chi-blocker who rescued Aomine this morning. I wouldn’t mind paying him back for that.”

“Whatever you like, when he’s not useful any more,” said Hanamiya indulgently. He looked at Ryou. “You said one more, a fleet officer?”

“He got away while I was handling Aomine,” Ryou reported. “B-back in the sewers.”

Ryou. Aomine tried to push himself up. Ryou had tricked him. Them.

“Dai-chan!” cried Satsuki, noticing him. Aomine tried to call out to her, but he hurt too much to do it. Because of Ryou. Ryou, holding a blade to her throat.

Ryou just looked at Aomine coldly, and tightened his grip on Satsuki's limbs. She jerked back from the ice-cold edge, and she made a small soft sound of pain. Aomine felt a hot surge of rage, he'd _kill him_ , kill them all, the ocean would eat their bones…

The water rattled, and whistles sounded through the fog.

The ship was here, sailing in silently on the wind and waves. Blue and white lanterns hung on her stern. It was bigger than Aomine would have expected to see in a cove this size, but built for speed. It was high tide and waterbenders moved her in carefully, working in tandem.

“Take the non-benders on,” said Hanamiya. “Leave the Avatar and the Prince to me. If any of these heroes try to bend, throw those two both overboard _first_.”

Kazu and Ryou nodded and pushed their captives towards the dock.

Hanamiya moved. Kise and Kagami, limbs twisting, rose into the air. Kagami’s eyes were closed, and his chest was barely moving. Seto moved in to take over holding Midorima down.

Hanamiya studied them both. “Try not to die before I can deliver you to your new prisons,” he said. “Shou called dibs on the Prince, but I bet he’d like the Avatar even better.”

Kise’s gaze fastened on him. He twisted against his bonds, his own blood, and the wind picked up. Light flashed through his eyes, one, and then the other. His fists clenched convulsively and the blue on them seemed brighter than ever.

“You two aren’t a lot alike,” said Hanamiya casually, but his eyes glittered with malice, and an icy, implacable hatred. “Been a while since you’ve seen each other, yeah? Over a year? Watch that Avatar State there. Sakurai gets twitchy when he’s scared.”

Kise’s eyes were wild and afraid, but he looked at Tetsu and Satsuki and made a visible effort to calm down. People were getting off the ship, and they had more restraints with them. Aomine bit the inside of his cheek and tried again to twist free, to focus long enough to call water. The whole damn ocean was just there, if only he could bend it. Kagami was very pale, and very still. Tetsu, with his blood smeared down his throat. If Aomine could have just gotten to the water- If he hadn’t trusted Ryou-

A siren began to sound, a loud piercing scream which echoed down from the tunnel. And then the whole cove moved, a heaving jerk that shook stone as well as earth. Everyone lost their balance, but Hanamiya managed to keep his hold on Kise and Kagami. Aomine hit his head on the pole, and swore.

And Satsuki was whirling away from Ryou to strike first Kazu then Seto with her chi-blocking, and as Hanamiya’s bloodbending hold on Kise fell apart the Avatar surged up and out of his chains like water bursting through a dam, lava through a volcano. Kise went for the ship like a typhoon, raising a whirlwind that sucked up water and wood from the dock and chewed at the waiting boat. Fire began to blaze out of the air as the benders on the ship fought back, but the arrow on Kise’s head was glowing eerie and bright, and he parried them with fire of his own.

Hanamiya’s concentration wavered, and broke. Kagami fell to the ground, and was still.

Satsuki had broken away from Ryou entirely, Ryou who- wasn’t doubled over bubbling in pain, but standing, moving. The knife he had held turned into water which he whipped impossibly fast at Seto, at Kazu, and blood flecked out from their faces as they recoiled and lost their hold on their captives entirely. Tetsu twisted out of Kazu's hold and struck, Kazu's entire body collapsing as his hips went numb. Seto had to contend with both Satsuki and Ryou, who backed her up like they’d practiced it; Seto was downed in an instant and Midorima, struggling to get to Kagami, was free.

Ryou freed Kagami's hands, then Midorima's, breaking Kagami’s collar with the ice he had pressed to Satsuki’s neck, reformed. And then Ryou was bending over Aomine and Kiyoshi, severing their bonds, pulling him upright and pressing pressure points on Aomine's arms as he did: Aomine gasped in pain as sensation was forced back into his limbs. Midorima was on Kagami in a second, ear to his chest, mouth to his mouth, breathing the life back into Kagami’s lungs. Hanamiya lunged for them, trying to reassert his blood bending hold or catch Midorima unawares, but Midorima elbowed him back with vicious force, trying to keep his attention on Kagami.

Kagami breathed. Then he choked and convulsed and heaved that breath out, a roar of flame which sent Midorima and Hanamiya sprawling back and drew all their attentions to the sky, suddenly alive above them.

Ryou stood tall and cleared his throat. Momoi was handcuffing Seto with his hands behind his back. Tetsu held him down for her, watching the waterspout that was Kise rip through the ship with worried eyes. On Ryou’s chest gleamed the badge of the police force, and lights sliced through the night behind him, powerful searchlights attached to airships heading their way from all over the city. "In the name of the Republic City Police Force," he shouted, his voice ringing over sirens, over shouting, over the roaring of water on rock. "Hanamiya Makoto, Bloodbender, kidnapper, thief! _You are under arrest_!”


	9. Chapter 9

The police airships flooded Yue Bay with light, leaving nowhere to run or hide. Rumblings from the tunnels signaled earthbenders at work and Red Monsoons were spilling out into the cove, driven out of hiding. Metalbenders hit the cove in the confusion. They swung down long cables dropped from an airship which had positioned itself above the dock and began subduing everyone who resisted, twisting metal around their hands and feet to restrain them.

Air Bison circled lower than airships, bellowing to each other. On their backs were airbenders, attracted by the piercing light of the Avatar State. They hovered near the water and the airbenders picked up people trying to swim away in the confusion, people who expected to meet reclusive, elderly pacifists and instead found themselves faced with angry young men and women armed with six-foot poles and tornados. The airbenders flew their captives up to the airships, into the waiting arms of the Republic City Police Force.

Hanamiya bared his teeth at Ryou, pulling water up from the sea into a huge wave that swamped the cove. They were all knocked over, despite attempts by waterbenders to slow the wave. When it cleared, Hanamiya was gone and even more people had been washed out to sea, bobbing dangerously close to the floating debris and to Kise, still battling the benders on the ship.

No. Aomine pushed himself off the ground and went for the ocean, straining his senses through the water. There was Hanamiya, hiding beneath the waves: bending his way through the water out towards the open ocean. There was so much noise and light that no one else had noticed, occupied with their own problems. Ryou was exchanging blows with Hara, and Satsuki was re-securing a Seto now bleeding heavily from the nose.

Frantic movement on the ship had been to some purpose. Kise was hit with one net, then another, tangling his limbs and dragging him down. He hit the deck of the ship and tried to burn up the nets, but they were massive, and while he did that the firebenders advanced. The closest Airbenders tried to swoop in and help, but the net guns had been reloaded, and Air Bison roared, throwing their heads from side to side in an attempt to shake off the heavy weighted nets. The airbenders were occupied in freeing their bison.

The water heaved again, but it wasn’t waterbending. Kiyoshi, on the shore, was bending the sea floor up to lift the ship free of the water, upsetting the benders on it. Several Metalbenders had caught on to what he was doing and helped him, effectively beaching the ship. Kuroko raced down the strip of created land towards the ship, and after him, Midorima. That was okay, then. They had Kise’s back. With Kise’s waterspout down, the way out of the cove was clear. Aomine was going after Hanamiya.

Hitting the water, ice-cold and dangerously turbulent, tasting that salt, made Aomine feel better than he had all night. He bent the water around him swiftly, arrowing towards Hanamiya.

Hanamiya was moving faster than Aomine was, but the huge Fleet flagship was alive with lights, and it had moved to block the entrance of Yue Bay. Waterbenders had frozen a thick wall of ice to fill in the gaps to either side, and firebenders and other soldiers stood beside them, watching to make sure no one escaped out to the ocean. Hanamiya wasn’t getting past that, not now, not ever.

The leader of the Red Monsoons wasn’t an idiot. He stopped and raised himself on a waterspout, looking for an opening. Aomine gritted his teeth and yanked, hard, undoing the spin and dropping Hanamiya back into the water.

“Fuck you,” Hanamiya called. His eyes were wild and furious, his hair slicked to his head. He looked like a drowned rat. There was nowhere to go.

Aomine was cold and wet and in amazing amounts of pain. He didn’t have time for this. He pushed himself closer to Hanamiya, readying himself to attack--

Air struck Aomine and Hanamiya, driving them underwater. Aomine was knocked head-over-heels, tumbling through the water. When he surfaced, he looked wildly around for Hanamiya. An Air Bison was hovering and the turbulance it caused was making it difficult to see and even more difficult to stay afloat. Hanamiya was cursing audibly, and Aomine saw him, his legs dangling against the Bison’s white fur as the Airbender grabbed his arms.

“I got him!” called an unfamiliar voice. “I’m gonna bring him up to the airship, you just stay there, okay?”

Aomine opened his mouth to argue for not being left out in the ocean, and got seawater in it. By the time he got his breath back, the airbender and his captive were gaining altitude, and Aomine was too tired to chase them. He made himself a little ice floe, letting it lift him out of the water, and lay back, closing his eyes.

.0.

For the second time in as many days, Aomine was roused from uneasy sleep by voices arguing.

“-you really think it’s him, Kuroko?” Aomine heard someone say. He didn’t like that voice, but he owed it something. Owed it a lot. That pissed him off.

“I consider it a possibility, Midorima-kun,” said Tetsu. “I take it you’ve also considered the same, yes?”

Aomine opened his eyes. He was in a bed. Tetsu was perched on the end of it. That prissy rich boy they’d made take his place - Midorima, yeah - was standing in front of Tetsu, and strode over to check Aomine’s vitals. Midorima’s left arm was broken, and the sling it was in did nothing to improve his temper or his bedside manner. Tetsu, covered in neat bandages with a nasty cut over his eye, watched them both.

“Stable condition,” said Midorima to Tetsu. “And of course, I considered the possibility. But I find it highly improbable that-- I TOLD YOU TO STAY _IN BED_ ,” he roared, over his shoulder.

Aomine turned his head. It hurt less than he had expected it to. In the other bed, looking battered but alive, was Kagami. The prince froze guiltily and lowered himself back onto his pillows, but when he noticed Aomine looking at him, he smiled in relief. His pendant was back around his neck, Aomine saw. Shame no one had washed the blood off before returning it to him.

“Don’t. Talk,” said Midorima, hovering over Kagami awfully. Kagami eyed the waterbender truculently but subsided.

“Midorin said that Dai-chan was going to be alright,” said Satsuki, as though Aomine didn’t know already that he was still alive. She had also been attended to: she sat on Kagami’s other side, with Nigou in her arms. Aomine was probably going to get it from her later. He winced internally at the thought. Wincing externally seemed like too much effort for _way_ too much pain right now.

“Kise?” said Aomine.

Wordlessly, Midorima pointed to Aomine’s other side. Kise was sitting in a chair like Satsuki’s, napping. Pain had cut deep lines into his face and he was ill and grey, but he was nowhere near as banged up as the rest of them.

“He insisted on being here when you woke up,” said Midorima acidly. “So did Taiga, which is why you are recuperating here instead of in a cell, where you belong.”

Kagami turned his head to stare at the wall.

“Midorima-kun,” said Tetsu reprovingly. “I don’t deny that Aomine-kun has made idiotic, reckless and dangerous mistakes.”

Aomine rolled his gaze to a blank patch of wall as well.

“But I believe he was misled, and that he did not mean for any of us to get hurt,” continued Tetsu. “We have given our statements to the police. You have given yours. It will be up to them to take the next step now.”

“Speaking of,” said Imayoshi, sliding the door open without shame. Ryou, standing just outside with his hand upraised to knock, blushed. “Momoi, how’re ya?”

Satsuki stood up, spilling Nigou into Kagami’s lap. “Sir,” she said. “I’ve - we’ve--”

“Sit down, officer,” said Imayoshi, looking amused. He was wearing the full metalbender officer uniform. “As ta man said, we’ve got plenty of time to decide if you’re in trouble or not."

Ryou came to speak to Aomine. He was still in his - disguise, Aomine supposed it was. But he had his badge pinned to the shirt, and his shoulders were straight, not huddled. It suited Ryou more.

“A-aomine-san,” said Ryou, looking stricken. “I’m sorry! For--” his hands waved vaguely all over Aomine’s body.

“Well,” allowed Aomine. “You did have a plan and the whole police force showed up to arrest them, so I guess you had a good reason for tricking us.”

“Not everyone,” said Ryou, looking relieved but grave. “Mako-- Hanamiya-- he escaped. I er thought of asking… Sorry, you were the last one seen pursuing him, do you know--”

Aomine jerked upwards. “He didn’t!” he said. “An Airbender picked him up, I saw-“

“An Airbender?” said Ryou. He went pale - well, paler than usual, and even more pale than exhaustion and blood loss had already made him. He looked at Imayoshi. “Sir--”

“I heard,” said Imayoshi. Aomine felt pinned by his sudden attention. “Ya sure?”

“Wasn’t he the one who told you where to find me?” said Aomine. He remembered _that_ , anyway.

“No, Kasamatsu-san and Takao-san brought you in. They found you while the airbenders were sweeping the bay,“ said Tetsu.

“What helpful information,” said Imayoshi, his eyes wide open. “Ryou, get Susa on the wire to the _Victory_. We’re not just looking for him on the ships.”

They raced out of the room, and everyone stared after them.

Kise stirred. “Ow,” he complained, stretching. He looked up. “Aominechi!” he said. “You’re okay!”

.0.

“It is my belief that Midorima Shintarou has not been influenced by the philosophies of the Mukan group,” said Lieutenant Takao of the Republic City Fleet, formerly of the _Hawk_. “Throughout my attachment to him, his daily routine has been unexceptionable, barring the recent incident. He holds no subversive political views. He expresses no discontent with political events. It is my opinion that he is not in danger of being turned to their cause, and that his purpose in Republic City is exactly as he stated when he arrived.”

“Barring the recent incident,” said Commander Akashi, in a completely colourless voice.

Takao kept staring forward. “Yes, sir,” he said. “As I said, it was a coincidence that Midorima and I got caught up in it at all.”

“But you said that there had been a recent run-in with the same gang, also involving Midorima and Aomine Daiki,” said Councilwoman Araki. “Do you expect us to believe that these two incidents are unconnected?”

“Yes,” said Takao. “We gave our statements to the police at the time.”

“It was investigated and found to be a routine extortion visit by a small group of Red Monsoons,” said Councilman Harasawa. “Our undercover officer’s report corroborates that of the Lieutenant. To his knowledge, no meeting was set up and Midorima-kun merely acted swiftly to intervene in a potentially dangerous fight between rogue benders. Other known Mukan agents or sympathisers were also not involved. The incident is most likely unconnected.”

Araki refrained from comment. Councilman Kagetora gazed at Takao in a very worrying manner. Nakatani had declined to be in attendance, citing his initial opposition to assigning a watch on an upright and honourable young man placed in his care. There had been a note in Midorima Shintarou’s case file about the councilman’s reluctance, and now that Takao had met Midorima and known him for four months, he understood it. Shin-chan would have been no one’s first choice for a spy. If Shin-chan had somehow been involved in a plot to abduct the Prince and the Avatar, as Kagetora and Araki seemed to think was possible, Takao would eat his gloves.

Takao swept his gaze over the rest of the attendees. Aida Riko, sitting near her father, was taking notes, presumably to keep her temper in check. Commander Akashi, who had apparently and inexplicably _not_ been informed that one of his closest friends had been identified as likely to have radical terrorist group ties and that an officer of the Fleet had been attached to Shin-chan as a spy, was even more angry than Aida Riko, and had only gotten more so as Takao continued his report. Lightning was sparking from his eyes, unless that was just Takao’s imagination, a hallucination brought on by exhaustion and - Takao wasn’t too proud to admit it - fear.

Imayoshi Shouichi, man of the hour, had prudently sat with the airbenders between him and the firebenders; Elder Takeuchi and Kasamatsu Yukio looked like they had gotten no sleep since the news had gotten out that the ringleader had potentially made his escape by air bison. Harasawa alone looked as though he had finally accepted that, as Takao had always privately maintained, shadowing Shin-chan was a waste of the Fleet’s time.

“Where is Midorima now?” inquired Araki.

Takao’s stare verged, very subtly, on the edge of insubordination. “He is at the pro-bending Arena,” Takao said. “After being discharged this afternoon, the prince insisted on returning to his lodgings with his friends. Midorima went with them to supervise the move and because they wished to convey their gratitude for his help last night.”

“That’s chummy,” Kagetora remarked.

Takao barely stopped himself from shrugging. Of course they’d ask Shin-chan along, why wouldn’t they?

“Very well,” said Takeuchi. “Thank you for your report, Lieutenant. I believe this concludes our business here today, are there any objections?” He looked at Commander Akashi.

There were none. Takao bowed to the Republic City Council; the meeting broke up. Commander Akashi left with the airbenders, and the various other council members took themselves off. Takao eased out of parade rest and cracked his aching neck. If he hurried, he’d have time for a wash and change before Shin-chan and that lot headed out to dinner.

.0.

“Captain!” called Riko. “Captain, excuse me. I want a word with you.” She crossed her arms. It had been hard to track Imayoshi down, but he’d been here sucking up to the Council, just as she suspected.

Imayoshi looked extremely harassed, which was a first. “Can’t this wait?” he said.

“No,” Riko said. “It can’t.”

She pulled him into an empty meeting room, then turned on him.

“Why is Teppei still in custody?” she said.

“Excuse me?” said Imayoshi.

“You heard me. Why is Teppei still in custody? We haven’t been allowed to see him for two days, but everyone else is out by this afternoon and able to go home?” Riko demanded.

“Ah really cannot see how this is a matter for _civilians_ ,” said Imayoshi, emphasizing the word, “ta stick their noses in.”

“I see,” said Riko, controlling her temper. “So the Avatar and the Fire Nation prince get out whenever they want to, but Kiyoshi’s still being held on some trumped-up charge? Is that how this works?”

“Ya’re getting a little high and mighty, aren’t ya, for someone who wouldn’t have been in tha hearing at all except that her daddy brought her along?” said Imayoshi. “Your boy’s being held under Fleet jurisdiction. It’s been moved out of my hands.”

Riko glared at Imayoshi. “What do you mean, under Fleet jurisdiction? Teppei hasn’t done anything wrong. He was helping them. Why would the Fleet even care about Kiyoshi?”

“If you can pull enough strings ta find out what they’re holding him for, you’re welcome ta,” said Imayoshi. “Until then, you’re just going ta have ta deal with knowing as much as me.”

.0.

Kise was in seclusion on Air Temple Island following his discharge, on the Elder’s firm suggestion. Accessing the Avatar State was a very important milestone in Kise’s spiritual development, and it was paramount that he rest and reflect upon it while it was still fresh in his memory.

When Akashi walked in on the Avatar in the spiritual grove where he had gone to meditate, Kise was soundly asleep in the shadow of drooping trees. The island’s wildlife was napping along with him.

Winged lemurs scattered as the Commander approached. “Wake up,” said Akashi.

Kise jerked awake, grabbed his glider, dodged in a zig-zag, and rolled to his feet several metres away, raising it in a defensive position.

Akashi raised an eyebrow.

Kise laughed nervously and lowered his weapon. “Akashichi!” he said. “What’s up?”

Akashi raised the other eyebrow.

“Do you, um,” said Kise. “Kagamichi and Midorimachi, they were okay when I left them this afternoon--”

A shadow passed over them. Far overhead, Air Bison were coming and going, returning from their aerial sweeps of the island and the Republic City waters. Kise watched them.

“I am not here to talk about them,” said Akashi. “I will deal with that later.”

Kise straightened. He wondered if they could all get out of town before that happened. Maybe out to Whale Tail Island. That was nice this time of year, wasn’t it?

“As you should be aware, I returned to Republic City even though the Northern situation with the Mukan is still unstable and unresolved,” continued Akashi.

“You… came back to attend the conference,” said Kise, uncertainly.

“No,” said Akashi, tonelessly. “I returned after several violent attacks upon my person provoked concern for my safety. It was agreed that I would attend the conference here while the matter was investigated and dealt with there.”

“Someone tried to assassinate you?” said Kise. It seemed insane. No one could possibly succeed. Then he thought about it. Not that it would stop people from trying. Or wanting to.

“No,” said Akashi. “We interrogated those agents captured. The gist of their confessions- their declarations, let us rather say - was that the Mukan’s aim in attacking me was not to relieve me of my life. It was to relieve me of my bending.”

Kise sucked in a breath.

“It had been previously suspected that Hanamiya Makoto was the alleged perpetrator,” said Akashi. “He is a highly talented bloodbender, and bloodbending combined with chi-blocking techniques has previously been proven to stimulate the effects of energybending. However, the fact that he had Kagami Taiga as well as yourself at his advantage last night and did not take steps to disable your bending at a time when it would have greatly advantaged him to do so argues that he does not possess the ability to remove bending at will.”

Kise went cold all over.

“You think--“ he said.

“If the Mukan have truly acquired the allegiance of an energybender, it is more imperative than ever that you master the Avatar State and harness your own ability to energybend,” said Akashi.

Kise thought of the blur of two nights ago, a roaring through his veins, the world gone white before his eyes. Someone’s hands, reaching for him, and he had known he was safe, and could stop. Just like that. Kise didn’t remember mastering the Avatar State, nothing even close. He doubted it could be mastered at all. It was just - reaching out for the light tucked somewhere behind his eyes, and then letting go.

“C-could,” said Kise. “If I energybent an energybender, wouldn’t he be able to - they be able to return their own bending?”

Akashi eyed him. “I don’t know,” he said, turning to leave Kise alone again in the spiritual grove. “And until you master energybending, we won’t have the opportunity to find out.”

.0.

"You know, we should think about getting dinner," said Aomine, staring at the ceiling. Nigou was slumbering by his side, his small furry body a warm weight pressing into Aomine’s sore ribs.

"We don't have any food," said Kagami. His voice was better thanks to Midorima's non-stop clucking, but it was still rough and softer than usual.

"And Tetsu-kun isn't back yet," added Satsuki.

"After that," said Aomine. "Or y'know, now. That'd be good too." He looked across at the other sleeping platform. Midorima was rich, wasn’t he? Hell, Aomine had no idea if if the Lion-Dogs were even still solvent. He’d broken Aida Riko’s rule about getting mixed up in trouble, they might be thrown out of here any moment. Fucking a.

Even Midorima had succumbed to exhaustion after they’d all returned to the attic that afternoon: he had taken off his fancy jacket and folded it up as a pillow. Now, he raised his rumpled head and almost rubbed his eyes with his cast. "What time is it?" he said, locating his glasses.

"Dinner time," said Aomine.

Midorima muttered something about feathered-monkey flocks. He sat up and called water to coat his hand, running it over Kagami. "Recovering normally," he said. "Stop talking." He climbed off the platform - with help from Kagami because of his broken arm - to check Aomine as well, but Aomine shied away.

"I'm fine," he said. "I slept, I'm always better after I sleep."

"I highly doubt this," said Midorima acidly. "After the beating you took, one on top of another, you should be..." He frowned.

"Told you," said Aomine. He was still sore, of course, but after being healed multiple times over the course of the day, he felt a lot better than this know-it-all seemed to think he should. The dip in the freezing ocean had done him good.

Midorima thought the better of what he had been about to say and moved on to Satsuki. The cut on her throat was now only a distant memory. Aomine supposed he now had his answer for why Kagami's body, despite its owner's lack of self-preservation, was so unmarred.

Satsuki smiled warmly at Midorima. Aomine could see that this was going to be another one they were never going to get rid of.

Tetsu came back while Midorima was healing Kagami again, hand on the firebender’s throat. To Aomine’s deep disappointment, he did not have food.

“I was at the office,” said Tetsu, when Aomine complained. “They were very anxious to hear about what had happened, and of course, as a news organization, it was deeply relevant to our work.”

“Didn’t they make you say you wouldn’t talk to the press?” Kagami wanted to know. “They did for the rest of us.”

"They must have overlooked me," said Tetsu. "I only submitted a writeup of events as I witnessed them, I'm sure that further investigation will make matters much clearer." He looked innocently back at group.

"And in the meantime, your gutter press will crawl all over this sordid affair," sniffed Midorima.

"I kept your name largely out of it, Midorima-kun, pending an official statement from the embassy," said Tetsu, straight-faced. "Your pro-bending debut was unfortunately overlooked in the commotion, but I was assured by Koganei-san that the article would get top billing if published at any other time.”

"You wouldn't," said Midorima, outraged.

“I’m mentally drafting the copy as we speak,” said Tetsu. “I’m sure everybody back home will be delighted to hear of your successes.”

"Was he even any good?" said Aomine, cutting off Midorima’s sputters.

Midorima turned on him. “You should know,” he said. “Or have you forgotten that--”

“Don’t start,” said Kagami, catching hold of Midorima’s wrist. Midorima subsided, and Nigou climbed into Aomine’s lap. “We can’t get into any more trouble, anyway.”

“ _You_ can’t,” said Midorima. “Your brother has definitely heard of this, you understand.”

Kagami seemed to deflate. “I get it,” he said. “How ‘bout you, is your… that guy… going to be disciplined or something? Where is he?”

“He does have a job, with responsibilities,” pointed out Midorima. The _unlike you people_ was clear in the tone of his voice.

Aomine, frowning at them, was about to complain again about being hungry when a noise from the stairwell attracted all their attention.

“Is that him?” said Satsuki, craning her neck. “It’s open!” she called down.

“Hmm,” said the stranger, coming up through the floor of the attic. They stared at him. A smile was firmly fixed to his face. He had longish black hair tied back at the nape of his neck, some of which fell over his face and his eyes, the pale blue-white of icebergs. All of their eyes were drawn to the gold pendant the stranger was wearing, the royal fire symbol wrought in gold and hung on silk, identical to the flame that hung around Kagami's neck. He smiled at them. “Taiga, I’ve been looking for you everywhere!” he said. “You’ve certainly gotten yourself into a fix.”

 

END OF BOOK 2

 


End file.
